


Fire and Dust

by Kara_Snape



Category: Moana (2016)
Genre: Age Difference, Aged-Up Character(s), Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood, Cover Art, Denial of Feelings, Digital Art, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fights, Forced Marriage, Friends to Lovers, NSFW Art, No seriously VERY SLOW BURN, Past Relationship(s), Post-Movie(s), Rejection, Size Difference, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Tags Omitted to Prevent Fic Spoilers, Translation, i need a beta reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2017-08-22
Packaged: 2018-10-18 18:57:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 168,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10623078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kara_Snape/pseuds/Kara_Snape
Summary: After her seventeenth birthday Moana thought her life was over.  Injured by what she saw as a betrayal by Maui, she seeks to prove one thing to the Demigod: She is Moana of Motunui.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Fuego y Polvo](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10623033) by [Kara_Snape](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kara_Snape/pseuds/Kara_Snape). 



> Moana, Maui and family belong to Disney. I'm not making money from this work.
> 
> It's my first fic Moana / Maui, it's almost finished but I still have to decide the ending so stay tuned to the notes because I might add more by the time I am finished. I want to make it clear that this fic is just a form of expression and is not written to offend or insult the beautiful Polynesian culture. There may be many flaws about culture and religion in this story, some are due to ignorance and others to make the story possible, and for that, I apologize in advance. In this fic, Maui was NOT married before, the history of Maui's past has been totally invented. The same with Tamatoa's. These facts have not been based on bad intention but in the desire to write a story with a certain personalization of the characters so that they adapted better.  
> If there is any cultural, political or religious failure - based on the cultures of the islands - please let me know. If it does not change the course of the story I will be more than happy to modify it. This story is a translation. English is not my first language so I can not assure you it's perfect but my husband is doing a great job helping me with the translation.

 

If you find a woman  
with a wild heart  
do not try to tame her.  
You must adore her  
recklessly, the way  
she is meant to be loved.  
Do not try to quiet her,  
for her roars will reach  
far and wide.  
She has something  
important to say.  
Help her say it.  
Do not get in her way.  
She stops for no one.  
Do not try to change  
the path she has chosen.  
Learn also to love the wind  
and let it change you.

 

C.B., Wild-Hearted Woman

 

 

 

 

The sails vibrated with the force of the wind that drove the canoes above the waves. The shape of the Motunui’s Island greeted her like an old friend as they embarked on the coast. It had been an exciting journey of several weeks until she'd felt the yearning for home. She jumped onto the white sand and pulled the rope hard with her navigators until the canoe beached on the coast. She jumped up again to find her basket with the latest acquisitions and works from her trip. She had decided to draw the islands she had found in order to make a record of all that surrounded Motunui and had brought several gifts for her parents and those friends who had remained on the islet. Pua came out of the canoe hold with a happy growl with Hei Hei sitting on his head. She smiled at them and motioned for them to follow her back to the village.

When she got home she took off her crown and flower necklaces and went to the wooden chest where she had stored her collection of discoveries for the whole year. A year since she left for the first time to restore the heart of Te Fiti. She looked with emotion at the rustle of annotations and maps and then at a tapestry on the wall where she had marked the days since his best friend's last visit. Tonight she would go up to the mountain to light the fire. They had agreed that whenever she wanted to see him she would light a fire on the top of the peak. She didn’t know how the demigod saw her across the seas but he was always there shortly after being called. With one last glance, she picked up everything, stood up, and ran to see her parents with her hands full of valuable information and incredible gifts.

 

* * *

 

She took a step back as the huge hawk shone with a blue halo and fell into human form in front of her.

"Did you miss me?" he thrust the hook into the ground to lean on it and pose with bravado. Moana rolled her eyes and shook her head toward him with her hands behind her back and a wicked half smile. Maui straightened up, staring at her suspiciously. "What do you have there?"

"Me?" she said innocently moving around him without turning her back on him. "Nothing, why do you ask?"

"Why does it look like you're hiding something…?" he started to spin in place following her path. Mini Maui made a gesture like he was looking over her shoulder knowing that there was something hiding behind her.

"You know that we have just returned from another trip and this time I found something interesting" at that moment she stopped at the site with a kick with the foot to emphasize. Pua, besides her, nodded emphatically.

"Interesting?" he pursed his lips to keep from smiling, and moved closer to her, trying to look over her shoulder. With a quick impulse she turned again to face him. Maui frowned and followed the game until he stumbled and fell on his back in the sand. "Come on! I don’t play with you like that!" he slapped the air.

"Yes you do!" she shouted, trying to hold back her laughter. "Last time you didn’t give it to me until nightfall."

"But I'm Maui!" he said, raising his arms in disbelief. Then he winked at her with pity "and you loved it, didn’t you?" Moana shook her head, remembering longingly how Maui had opened his palm to reveal a small, hand-carved bone hook. It was a small thing and very neatly carved. It seemed almost impossible to have been made by those huge, clumsy hands. It was, of course, another sign of his ego, like signing the oar. But he had spent his time working on it and thinking about her, something she found extremely adorable and special. She had kept it in her pendant, replacing Te Fiti's spare heart and she could find herself sometimes playing with it in her hands in the rarest moments of the day. It was a beautiful display and memory of him and their friendship.

"And you're going to love this" she lifted her head, sure of herself.

"Really? How are you so sure about it?"

She shrugged and kicked the sand looking shy.

"Because I made it and I did it thinking about you," Maui complained and sat up, looking at her with interest. His eyes went down to where her hands would be, then he looked her in the eyes again. "Interested?"

"Maybe," he said, dragging the syllables.

"Well, if you want it," she shifted from one foot to the other and bent down to his height, "choose a hand."

He narrowed his eyes at her from left to right again and again before staring into hers.

"Ummm rig... lef..." He looked at Pua, looking at Moana timidly, and closed his mouth with a snap and showed all his teeth in a wolfish smile. "Both hands."

She opened her eyes in surprise and then made a sour grin. With a quick movement she pulled out what she had behind her back and held it out with both palms open. Maui gasped as he saw the whitish ivory knife with the tribal carvings. He got up and picked up the present, moving closer to his face to see it better. Mini Maui rested her hands on his skin as if looking through a glass. Moana shrugged at the mute question.

"There was a whale on the first island we visited. Some of the boys in the tribe were talking about the use of bones and I decided to use one of the ribs."She grabbed his hand to lower the knife a little so that she could touch a poorly carved area on it. "I carved it during the trip as you taught me but I kept slipping with the movement of the waves."

She dropped her hand and Maui took the opportunity to throw the knife into the air and catch it easily.

"It's incredible, princess." With a quick movement he placed it on the ropes of the sheet skirt. "Thank you."

She squirmed, hitting his stomach.

"I told you I'm not a princess."

They spent the rest of the afternoon sitting shoulder to shoulder on the beach talking about the islands and the trips of each of them until the sky turned ocher and the breeze cooled. As soon as the sun disappeared and the first fires of the torches were lit, a voice from the village interrupted them.

"I'm coming!" Moana screamed to where she had heard her mother calling her. "I have to go. I’m not planning on leaving for a while. My father wants me to pay more attention to my duties as a chief now that I have returned. We are trying to open a commercial route that passes through Motunui and  that requires a lot of work, but I hope we can see each other next week" she explained leaving the sleepy Pua on the ground and getting up. The pig gave a small moan for being awakened and gently squealed to Maui as a farewell. He stroked behind his ear.

"No problem. I don’t have much to do, the humans have managed well without me these thousand years. You don’t need me anymore."

Moana tapped his shoulder gently with her hand.

"We're always gonna need you, Maui. Goodnight."

"Good night" she turned to leave, but Maui called her again. "I really liked the knife. Thank you, Moana."

"You're welcome" she squeezed his shoulder affectionately and merged into the thicket of the forest on the way home. Maui took his gift and inspected it in the moonlight, running his finger through its intricate motifs with a lost gaze and a silly smile on his face.

 

* * *

 

She grimaced when her mother wiped a wet thumb over her cheek.

"Mom!" she groaned, trying to pull herself away from a second attack.

"Hold still, Moana, you're still dirty" she held a hand and wiped her face with the forearm.

"All done, ok?" Sina looked at her sadly.

"You're not my little girl anymore, I suppose" Moana smiled warmly.

"I'll always be your little girl" they both hugged closely.

"Are you ready for your big day?" they went to the door of the tent and Sina grabbed the loom to let her pass.

"Of course, one doesn’t turn seventeen every day" with a nod they went out to face the whole village that jumped with great cheers and whistles. The two women approached the chief Tui and the party begin. All the islanders gathered in the center of the village to eat and chat together.

The gifts were simple and varied, received with as much warmth and affection as they were given. She danced with the women, played with the children and applauded when the men performed their haka. A shadow in the sky distracted them and they all looked up, gasping in amazement as a huge hawk flew past with a squeaky chirped greeting. The smile that appeared on her face at that time was not unnoticed by her parents but both were alerted when she jumped up and ran into the forest asking for a few minutes of solitude with Pua running after her heels. Passing by a basket with leis she took one and kept on her way without stopping.

Her skirt and floral decorations moved furiously as she passed through the jungle until she pulled out the last sheet of palm and met face to face with her best friend.

"Maui! You’ve come!"

"Of course I came."

"I can’t stay long" she approached him and stood on tiptoe to place the lei over his collar of fangs.

"I guessed it, but I didn’t want you to spend this day without the best gift of all."

"Have you brought me something?" Maui stared at her, she rolled her eyes. "You're talking about yourself, aren’t you?"

"The best gift of all, curly" he shook his head so that his mane could move in the wind. She laughed.

"You're welcome to join us. Several ships of visitors are arriving for the party tonight."

"I don’t think I'm going to go unnoticed and today is your day, don’t want to draw attention away from you."

Moana lowered her head in dismay, wiggled her fingers, letting them bury themselves in the sand, and suddenly looked up when an idea came to her mind.

Sina gasped as she saw her daughter arrive with a huge green reptile in her arms and Pua scampering behind her with an exasperated look.

"Where did you get that?" she asked as she sat down.

"Is it wearing a lei?" Tui asked at her side. She ignored them, placed the animal in her lap and looked around for food.

 

 

"It's an iguana. I found him on the beach and I think he's hungry" to consternation for her parents the iguana nodded to support her point and opened his mouth wide as Moana handed him a piece of mango.

"An interesting choice of friend," Tui said with a raised eyebrow. Sina cut him off sharply.

"Let her play with anyone she want while she can."

Moana looked at them questioningly but both changed the conversation and she focused on feeding Maui.

At dusk they lit the torches and continued the feast and a huge banquet. The group of women returned to delight them with a hula and the men corresponded with a haka in honor to the birthday girl. Maui looked at them with interest, having been a millennium away from all human life he had longed for the dances and was interested in how much they had changed since his time.

Suddenly, a group of visitors stood and walked to the chief's table. They bowed and Tui inclined his head in acknowledgment. They all got into position and with a roar started a wild haka that Moana didn’t recognize. They spoke of the honor, the strength and the skill of the warriors. The movements were abrupt and powerful, their faces hard and aggressive, and they stuck out their tongues in succession. A group of young people from the village began to whisper timidly and speaking softly with hysterical giggles. Moana had welcomed the group of strangers and had spent most of the day ignoring them, but now looked at them with amazement and open mouth not knowing very well how to respond or what to say. She could sense the gaze of her father, but every time she turned to him, he was entertained by the haka.

With a cheer and applause, the group finished, bowed in acknowledgment and returned to its place.

"What has all this been?" she whispered softly.

"I don’t know, but it's been intense," Maui replied without thinking. Quickly he closed his mouth, Sina stared at him with her mouth open. He inflated the bag of his throat and made a whistling sound trying to appear normal. Moana took some pork from her plate and handed it to him. The iguana swallowed with satisfaction and writhed in her lap despite Pua's soft moan at her feet.

"What do you think?" Tui asked her serving his own food.

"it was interesting" she shrugged. "I am quite happy that we have been able to meet our neighbors from other islands and know them and know their own culture" Tui made a sound of affirmation and insisted again.

"What about the men?" Moana gave more food to her friend.

"Oh, they're fine, I think, they seem nice but I think that Arona and the group enjoyed them more, they haven’t taken their eyes off of the haka since they started."

"That boy there," he nodded at a large man sitting before the group, eating with his hands and ignoring the laughter of his friends, "Hoani is the future chief of the South Island. We have expanded trade with them and decided that we can be the first meeting points of trade between our islands."

Moana nodded without much interest.

"Maybe you should try to talk to him, you know, to establish relationships"

That caught her attention and she looked at her father.

"Our relationships are good. We are peaceful and self-sustaining people, there is no need to fight for land or fishing grounds, and the issues of trade are almost over" Tui sighed in exasperation.

"Look, just try to talk to him, right? Behave like a good chief and make some conversation with our neighbors and friends or show them the island."

"Okay, dad, tomorrow I'll guide them around if that makes you happy."

"A lot," the conversation ended. Moana and Maui shared a questioning look.

They didn’t take long to clean up and little by little they decided to end the night and go to their own houses. Moana rose from her seat with Maui still in her arms ready to go home when a shadow over her caught her attention.

"Hello," said the man  whose name she barely remembered.

"Hi emmm hummm Hani?"

"Hoani," he corrected. Moana laughed.

"Yes, of course, Hoani, hi, I'm Moana, nice to meet you" the man nodded and they stood in an awkward silence. "Humm Do you want me to... show you to your cabin?" Tui had decided to leave them one of the few uninhabited huts on the island. After the first visit of foreigners they had decided to build a couple of places for them so they could spend as much time as they wanted in Motunui.

"Yes, of course" it was obvious that they already knew where they were going to stay, but she had preferred to remain silent over the conversation with their father. They walked in an uncomfortable silence to a dark part of the island, illuminated only by two torches on the cabin door. Once there the man started looking annoyed and looked down at her hands.

"Do you have to bring that animal with us?" the iguana inflated the sack of his throat threateningly.

"He's a friend of mine," she defended him, pressing Maui to her chest.

"It's a nasty bug. Not even his flesh tastes good. I understand the pig" he pointed to Pua at her ankles "but an iguana?” he grimaced. Moana opened her mouth in indignation but decided that the situation was tense enough to begin a dispute over a difference of views.

"Goodnight, Hani," she said, raising her head with a sudden movement and turning around to leave.

"It's Hoani" she listened from a distance.

"Whatever," she whispered softly, heading for her cabin. Maui twisted in her arms to face her.

"A good start with the new kid, princess."

"Shut up, I was defending you."

"Defend the mighty Maui, shapeshifter, demigod of the wind and the sea, hero of all from a teenager?" Moana rolled her eyes and pulled the curtain from her tent. She left him gently on the floor and took off the lei and all the decoration she had placed for the party, getting ready to sleep.

Maui looked around at the murals on the wall, it was the first time he was in the family home and he was curious how she had decorated her little corner of the room. Moana stood up and marked a line on her calendar with a coal.

"What is that?"

"Uh? Oh, it's a calendar. I have written there the days you come. You know, I like your visits but I don’t want to force you to cross the sea every day."

The iguana turned his head in amazement and wonder.

"You can call me whenever you want, you know. It is not a problem."

"Believe me, it's better that way, I have to work for my people too. I can’t spend the day at sea," she said confidently, but her voice trembled with indecision. Suddenly she remembered something and with an exclamation rushed over the trunk where she kept her maps. Maui scrambled away as she began to spread the scrolls down the floor in order. "I've been working on this for a year."

Maui looked at them in amazement remembering all the islands he had been drawing out the sea over the past centuries.

"Wow, not bad" he scanned the parchments minutely and exclaimed. "There you missed one" he pointed with a scaly leg an empty spot between two islets.

"Hey! Shut up, the fun is to find them, not cheating."

"I am the god of..."

"Moana?" they were both petrified when Sina's voice was heard behind the loom of the door and when it opened, she entered

"Is someone there with you?"

"Uh, no, no, mom," she chuckled hysterically. "I'm talking to..." she looked at Maui for help, he shrugged. "Pua and humm Kaweau?"

"Kaweau?" the mother looked at the reptile.

"Yes, I was teaching him the islands."

"To the iguana?"

"It's my... humm way of thinking better. You know, review aloud what I already know in case I missed something."

"I see" she said without much conviction. "Well, I've seen you with that boy..."

"Oh, Mahi, yes" she picked up her maps again.

"Wasn't it Hoani?"

"Yes, of course, that's what I said."

"And what do you think?" she insisted.

"He’s... " ‘ _arrogant and an imbecile’_ she thought "

“...normal" she didn’t want to start a fight.

"I'm glad you could talk to him, he looks like a good man" Moana shrugged. Sina sighed and shifted from one foot to the other nervously. "Your father wants to talk to you tomorrow."

"Something bad?"

"No, no, not at all... just..." she looked up at her sadly and smiled. "I just wanted to tell you. You looked very pretty today, Moana."

Moana looked at her affectionately. "Thanks, Mom."

"I'll leave you with your _friends_ now, we'll finish talking to the other chiefs. Good night, Moana."

"Good evening, rest" both friends stared at each other for several minutes after she left and they gave a loud snort.

"That was close."

"Yes, thank goodness you haven’t changed."

"I couldn’t, this place is too small" he looked around. Moana had stared at the tapestry of the door. "Anything wrong?"

She shook her head "I don’t know what my father wants to talk about, but this has been very weird."

Maui snorted.

"The ‘ _we have to talk_ ’ or ‘ _what did you think about the new guy’_?"

She smiled and went to her bed. Maui stared at her without knowing what to do.

"Um, I think I should..." he nodded at the door. Moana had already leaned back and looked at him sleepily. Pua had settled into a knot of blankets at her feet.

"You can stay, it's too late anyway and no one would suspect if I let you sleep here while you keep your animal form," she yawned. "Besides you're my birthday present."

Maui smiled grimly and crawled to the bed. Moana left a gap at her side and he settled himself curling up on himself.

"Goodnight, Maui," he replied with a sleepy low grunt.

 

* * *

 

That morning dawned like a normal one. The roosters crowed at dawn, the islanders got ready for another day of hard work, and Moana woke with a start to find the house empty. She yawned loudly and stroked her face with drowsiness until the memories of last night came to her mind and made her smile. She changed clothes and prepared everything for the day. The first thing would be to fulfill the promise of his father to show the island to the visitors and then go and talk to him. She gave a weary sigh and put a radiant and nervous smile on her face before going out the door to start the day with her friend Pua following her faithfully.

 

* * *

 

The bonfire glowed high on the island as Maui hovered in his hawk form. He had felt the call as he flew one of the southwestern islands. He had seen Moana that morning after her birthday, and it had seemed strange to him that she had called him so soon. He remembered that he had told her that she didn’t have to bother counting the days to call him, but he hadn’t really expected that she would call him the day after he left and he rushed back in case there had been any problems. He looked down the beach in search of his friend but didn’t recognize any friendly form at night. It was when he heard his name being shouted from the top of the mountain that his blood turned cold with fear.

"I'm coming, Moana!" he shouted angrily. Once he reached the clearing at the summit of the mountain, he became a human and landed heavily next the rocks of the chiefs and looked around with the hook in search of any hint of trouble or attack. A tangled dark mane appeared in the darkness and slammed into his arms.

"Maui," she complained, trembling in his arms. The demigod pulled her from him and grabbed her by the shoulders, leaving his hook on the ground.

"What happened? What's wrong? Are you okay?” she shook her head. "What have they done to you?" he shouted angrily. "Who did this to you? Moana!"

She rested her head on his chest and continued to cry in spasms. Maui realized that she had to get back on her feet before she could tell him anything and pressed her against his chest.

"Easy, little one, I have you, everything is fine," he whispered softly trying to help her. He looked at the annoying fire behind him and with a loud breath he blew it out, leaving them in the darkness. Carefully he pulled her away and put his arm around her, tugged the hook off the ground and carried her to the side where they could sit together in silence.

Moana was curled up around herself with her arms around her knees and her face buried in them. Maui had an arm around her offering his mute support but was not prepared for her next words:

"My father wants me to get married" Maui stood completely still, his face was disengaged and his gaze lost. "They are talking about my duty to give successors to the tribe and to improve relations for the good of Motunui," she hissed and tears returned. "I have already done all that my people have asked of me. I crossed the ocean, rescued Maui, restored Te Fiti's heart and... " the tears returned. "They don’t stop asking and asking, nothing is enough. Now I also have to sacrifice my freedom for the sake of my people. What more do they want from me? I will be away from the sea now that I have just discovered it, I will be forced to stay in my village raising children I don’t want to have and away from everything I love. I don’t know when I'll be able to see you again or even go on adventures with you. I can’t finish my maps or have my own life."

Maui closed his eyes tightly and pulled her to him, placing her under his arm. It was never enough, that was something he understood more than anyone. Moana was a daughter of chiefs, a _puhi_ , a pure one until marriage. It was normal for the chief to seek a matrimony arranged to secure his daughter's position.

"Take me away," she heard whispering.

"What?" Moana writhed beneath him and rose to face him.

"Get me out of here! I don’t want to get married! We could leave. You and I, we'll go on adventures, we'll be able to live on the sea... " Maui got up and walked over to her, stopping her babble.

"No, I can’t do that. This is your home, Moana, it's your island. Your family and friends are here."

"They are to blame for all this!"

"And if you leave, you'll hate yourself forever" he leaned in front of her and brushed her hair back from her face gently, wiping away her tears. Her eyes were closed, tense with anger and sadness. "Look at me, Mo."

She opened her teary brown eyes. "I don’t want to lose this... I don’t want to lose my life or you."

"Shhh, you're not going to lose me, you're not going to lose anything if I have something to say, okay? I'm going to help you with this, I'll be with you no matter what."

"But," she said in a shaky voice, Maui interrupted her by taking her chin.

"I'm going to help you, okay? No, I'm not going to kidnap you from your home or kill your fiancé, but I'm going to sort this out. Do you trust me?"

Moana sucked in through her nose and nodded slowly.

"Great, now give me one of those smiles" he made an example showing all his teeth and she mimicked him awkwardly. "Oh come on! I've seen crabs smiling better" she tried again and this time Maui nodded contentedly. "That's it, princess. That's the smile."

This time the laughter was sincere. "Thank you, Maui."

"You're welcome" he winked at her and stood up, placing his hands on his hips. "And it's time for the young princess to go to sleep. Where's your breakfast with hooves?"

Moana laughed and looked down the dark road and turned toward him.

"Can’t we stay a little longer?" they sat where they had been and talked all night. When Moana fell asleep it was with a smile on her lips.

 

* * *

 

She woke up with a choked cry and rose with a splash in her nest of blankets. She looked around, still frightened by her sleep. She didn’t know what she had dreamed of but she had that horrible feeling of weight in her chest after a nightmare. She tossed her hair back, trying to relax her turbulent heart. Then it was when she heard the noise in the distance. _What was going on?_ she got up quickly and left the cabin. The sun blinded her for a few seconds, and as her eyes grew accustomed she saw the cabin of the chief surrounded by all the islanders who spoke in solemn whispers and pointed to the loom that covered the door. Some were kneeling on the floor, apparently praying. _Oh no! Something had happened._

"Dad! Mom!" she shouted desperately toward the door. Everyone turned to look at her as if seeing her for the first time. Her friends were stunned and bowed their heads. They pulled away as if she were on fire as she ran toward the door and swatted the loom aside, fearing what it would find inside.

Her father and mother were sitting on the floor in front of the door. Facing away from it was a huge tattooed figure she'd recognize anywhere.

"Moana," said her mother. Maui glanced over his shoulder and the three of them got to their feet. A tense atmosphere filled the room.

"What's going on? Maui?" the demigod made no move to recognize her but the mini Maui peeked out from behind a tattooed island and greeted her timidly.

"Moana, dear..." her mother took a step toward her. After their journey the three had gathered together to talk about the adventure in her quest to restore Te Fiti's heart and how she had shared her journey with the shapeshifter demigod (and Hei Hei) and she knew that her parents hadn’t fully believed about her friendship with Maui. No doubt that seeing him now in all his glory in the middle of his village was going to make the whole thing clear.

"We have to talk," said her father. The weight in her stomach grew, this was not good news, not good news at all. She looked at Maui with a mixture of panic and anger.

"What have you done?"

"Moana," Tui said in a menacing voice. Her mother came to her and rested her hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. Tui decided it was time to continue.

"You know that since you turned seventeen you have a duty to seek a husband and give successors who will become the future leaders of the tribe. As the ocean opened we decided that we would take this opportunity to form alliances with other islands for protection and support. We had postponed the proposals until you reached an age that we believed the right or indicated and that moment has arrived. We debated for a long time..."

"No one asked me for an opinion!" she interrupted.

"...We debated for a long time," Tui continued in a serious voice, "that would have to be someone worthy for our daughter. Today, the demigod Maui has asked for your hand and we believe it is, without doubt, the best step to take for the good of us all."

All the color faded from her face as the anger took off and she turned to Maui.

"How could you!?"

He held up his hands to defend himself.

"This was the only solution I could think of, if you let me explain..."

The slap sounded throughout the room leaving the three stunned. With the blow, Maui's face had turned, hidden by his hair.

"Moana!" her parents roared, she ignored them.

"I trusted you. You asked me to trust you and I did! How could you do this to me?" Maui turned to answer her, hair falling down his face revealing a red itch on the cheek, took a step forward to try to reach her but she twisted in his arms.

"Moana..."

"No! Do _not_ touch me! You were my friend, I trusted you!"

"If you let me explain..."

"No!"

"Enough!" with these last two shouts in unison, the four of them remained in tense silence. Moana looked at her parents with her jaw tightly tightened, then turned to Maui.

"I hate you."

Before anyone else could open their mouth, she spun and walked out of the tent under the watchful gaze of her entire tribe. Sina put a hand to her disconsolate chest and waved with an apology as she ran after her. Tui turned to Maui who had been totally petrified with a blank gaze in the place where seconds before the girl had been.

"I... I have no words to express how sorry I am. I'll understand if you don’t..."

"No," Maui whispered, closing his eyes and clenching his fists. "I want to move on with this."

Tui opened and closed his mouth several times until he nodded slowly and gave a slight ‘ _thanks_ ’ this time Maui was silent and left with steady and determined step. He ignored the cries and whispers of astonishment and continued his pace inscrutably.

 

"Moana!" Sina shouted, running after her to the beach as fast as she could. "Please, you have to listen to me."

"Leave me alone!" Sina complained as she noticed her daughter advancing with obvious advantage and before she could realize she had climbed into one of the canoes and was preparing to go out to the open sea. She stopped on the bank, panting with exhaustion and watching her daughter leave. Moana needed time to assimilate everything, but she wished she had at least listened to them to avoid disgust. Feeling the bitter weight of pain in her chest she sat on the sand and watched her go. She didn’t know how long she'd been staring at the horizon when she noticed a presence behind her.

"She is gone."

"She’ll come back," Maui said in a soft voice.

"I'm sorry about what happened. I didn’t expect her to have that reaction" she looked over her shoulder. "What you have done for her... I have no way of thanking you."

Maui shrugged unnoticed, his dark eyes riveted on the sea.

"I didn’t do it for you"

Sina smiled sadly and nodded. She opened her mouth to add something but didn’t know what to say to lighten the weight on his shoulders. Finally Maui realized that it was time to leave and walked slowly to the water, preparing the hook, but before shapeshifting he turned to Sina.

"I'll be back in a year,"

she said good-bye, watching the hawk take flight and slip through the clouds.

Moana returned three days later. The whole island had heard the great news and they jumped with joy at seeing her come back, ignorant of her true feelings on the subject. Her parents tried to talk to her at times but she always found a way to ignore them. Her anger was such that she refused to stay alone with any of them despite her father's direct orders. Sina tried to approach her while they took care of the coconuts but Moana refused to stop helping the pickers and go to talk to her. However, she seemed to focus her rage on them, returning to be a shadow of the nice, attentive and strong girl with the rest of the villagers and friends. Helping in the collection of coconuts, fishing and even making preparations for the ceremony. As a _puhi_ and daughter of chiefs it was going to be a great ceremony. She just had to close her eyes and prepare for a future on this island. _It wouldn’t be so bad_ , she thought sometimes. A good remedy to lick her own wounds and not sink into the despair and betrayal of those she believed friends and more beloved. Many had tried to approach her to ask about Maui to end up understanding that she had no intention of even saying his name aloud, even the pain in her chest and lungs burning with anger and sadness. She still had a year of freedom, they were not going to force her to marry until she was of age, and she would take advantage of all the time she could to enjoy it. Soon Maui would come and claim her. For the first time since she met him she was afraid to see him again and didn’t even dare look up at the mountain, with no desire to re-ignite it with the fire of her call.

 

* * *

 

She finished putting the fruit in the baskets and took them in her arms to carry them to the canoe. Maui's calendar of visits appeared in front of her and she frowned. One month. A month had passed since she'd last seen him from her notes. Lifting both baskets with one arm, she grabbed the loom and tore it from the wall. She would get rid of it now that she could. She walked to the door with a steady pace and then stopped. She gripped the cloth on the door so tightly it left impressions on her skin. She clenched her teeth and with a dismissive gesture and a grunt, ripped it down and threw it against the corner of the cabin leaving it wrinkled and torn. She left for the beach without looking back or talking to anyone. Everyone recognized the signs of when Moana returned to the sea and although she always said goodbye to all that she could these last few weeks had become a bit colder towards the rest and she had preferred the solitude of the forest to the noise of the tribe. Her parents had resumed their duties as chiefs while she enjoyed her senior year.

She lowered the baskets into the compartment inside the canoe and made sure Hei Hei hadn’t stowed away again. She wanted to be alone on this trip.

"Moana," a voice behind her said. She sighed in frustration and ignored her mother again, tying her hair in a tight bun. "We need to talk before you leave."

She jumped from the canoe to lean on it and push it into the water with a stony face.

"Moana!" she shouted authoritatively.

Once her feet touched the water she gave a quick jump as her mother's presence grew closer. She had to hurry out or she would stop her. She grabbed the rope ready to give it a quick tug to open the sail.

"This marriage is a farce."

Moana’s hand froze in its place and she stood petrified with the sight lost on the horizon. Sina took advantage of the opportunity that at last they were alone and Moana listened to her to continue.

"We aren’t fools. You had been disappearing every week since you arrived. You told us about your friendship with the demigod Maui. We are your parents, it was obvious to us that someone came to see you when you went up to light the torch on the mountain. We didn’t want to interfere because we assumed you would tell us when you were ready. But you didn’t," she shook her head sadly. "Moana, you're a tribal chief, you're a _puhi_. The duty of a chief is to provide for the people and, as a woman, is to marry and be able to maintain the line for the future of the island. It must be done" she sighed. "But, Moana, you are our daughter too, our greatest pride and the most valuable treasure of Motunui. We were not going to let anyone hurt you and when the god Maui came to ask for your hand we couldn’t refuse. When you came back and told us all those wonderful stories, I admit it, it was hard for us to believe that. Magic, gods, giant crabs" she laughed" my child, you've always had a lot of imagination. But your father and I realized that you came here to signal someone from a distance every week, that you disappeared every time a giant hawk flew over the Island... We wanted you to marry with someone that we knew that was going to treat you as it is right, someone who understood your craving for freedom and the sea. We knew that the demigod Maui had come with good intention, that your friendship was sincere and that he would not hurt you. When he came in person himself to ask for your hand... we couldn't refuse."

She opened her mouth to continue but she closed it with a grimace, unable to keep talking.

"Go on," Moana whispered now, staring at her, her hands trembling on her lap. The canoe had returned to the sand, stranded precariously on the ground. Sina swallowed and nodded.

"Maui asked for your hand but for something. He told us that if we accepted he would take care of you and the island. You would be a chief until the day you want to retire and he will take your place then. You would have the life you want; Without pressure, without obligations beyond those of head of your tribe. You wouldn’t have to form a family for our sake, you would be free to live your life as you wish. Be the owner of your future and in return he would take care of everything once you finished."

The only sound was the wind and the waves coming to the shore. For a moment the weather stopped, even the breeze seemed to have no effect on the thicket plants that remained mute and motionless as if frozen.

A tear trickled down Moana's pale cheek and as if that had given her an electric shock, her body moved and jumped out of the canoe. She passed her mother without a word, running toward the forest, but before she stepped on the grass she stopped and turned to her mother. In a desperate gesture, she hugged her with all the strength she had. As she parted, she looked at her, her face broken with indecision. Sina smiled and nodded.

"Go, I'll talk with your father."

 

* * *

 

Fire warmed her dark skin in the middle of the night with stars as her only company. It had been three months since she saw Maui for the last time. The afternoon Sina told her the truth, with her heart in a fist, she ran up the mountain, lit the torch, and waited until she fell asleep. Needless to say there was no familiar smile waking her at dawn, only the sad look of her father and a warm embrace from her mother. After several weeks, she changed the torch to a bonfire. Every night she went up to maintain the fire and every morning she could see herself looking towards the smoke that came from the top of the mountain to make sure that it was still burning, and in her hands was the little bone hook. But not a single morning had dawned with Maui in sight. She raised her head as she heard footsteps and saw her mother arrive with a small torch as the only light. In silence, Sina laid the burning torch on the bonfire and sat down beside her.

"Are you cold?" Moana, who had buried her head in her arms, shook her head. Sina stroked her hair carefully.

"Father knows you're here?"

"I'm his wife, I don’t have to tell him everything" Moana almost laughed at the comment. She  had heard something like a very dear person long ago.

"He's not coming back, is he?" she asked after several minutes in silence. Sina looked at her sadly.

“I don’t know, dear."

"... This is my fault, I have not trusted him or any of you. Maui trusted me" her voice trailed off and she clenched her fists. "Mom, I miss him."

Sina ran a hand over her head, stroking her long mane.

"I know honey."

"I told him I hated him, mom" she let out a sob. "I told him I hated him when he was just trying to help me, keeping his promise. I'm a horrible person."

"Oh, Moana, he certainly didn’t take it seriously. You were angry, there was a lot of pressure on your shoulders..."

"You don’t understand ... I destroyed it, I went where it hurt the most. He always did everything for us, for me, so that we would love him, we don’t stop asking. It is never enough for us and when he tried to protect me and help me, I accused and rejected him. The only thing I always wanted him to do was come to see me, that perhaps one day he would stay and we would all form a family, that would teach us to sail, that we would travel the world and we would travel the islands and then I... I..." the tears returned with intensity and her voice broke again. Sina stifled a moan and hugged her. "I want him to come back."

"Why not go to find him?" Moana felt a chill ran through her.

"Find him? But... I don’t know where he may have gone."

"Moana, you embarked on a journey across the sea following legends of hundreds of years ago. You met Maui once and I'm sure you can find him a second time."

"But… what if he forgives me and comes back? If he comes back and I am not here maybe I will not have another chance. I lit the fire, he knows I'm calling him and if he forgives me and comes back I want to be here."

Sina nodded uncertainly and with a sad grin.

"As you want. You know I'll always support you."

"Thanks" they locked themselves in a deep embrace.

"I think we should go back before you dad picks us up" Sina got up and went to pick up the torch from the fire so they could light the way back.

"I thought you said that dad didn’t know you were here."

"I said _I didn’t tell him,_ not that he didn’t know it. We've been worried about you."

Both went down the mountain together but in silence and after another sincere hug each went to sleep.

 

TO BE CONTINUED....

 

**Next update - Friday 28**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Fire and Dust](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/post/160598190796/karasnapeprince-just-finished-the-cover-art) by [MagicFishHook](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/)  
> [Moana and "Kaweau"](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/post/161517972451/illustration-for-my-fic-fire-and-dust-chapter-1/) by [MagicFishHook](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/)


	2. Chapter 2

Everyone applauded when the last beat of the drum rang and the dance ended with a wrist movement. The women smiled at each other and returned to their seats. Moana returned to her seat next to her parents and smiled at her mother, proud of her good work. Her dark eyes traveled over the faces of her friends and tribesmen. She wasn’t surprised by how many new faces she had found in her village since last year. Motunui had become famous over the past year for the quantity and size of its coconuts and fish.  _ Iwi _ of all the islands around it had come to enjoy what they called  _ The Blessing of the Gods _ and many of them had joined them and their numbers had increased considerably. Maui had kept his promise to take care of the needs of the village more and more, and now a new legend had been born on the island with regard to the fire that burned permanently on the top of the mountain. It was said that the top of the sacred mountain of Motunui had burned when the daughter of the chief of Motunui and the demigod Maui had announced their future union and that fire, created by the demigod himself, had brought peace, prosperity and good health to the Island and its inhabitants. As long as Motunui continued burning, they would thrive. Neither Moana nor her parents had wanted to deny the rumor, and no one knew that it was Moana herself who went up almost daily to see that it never, ever went out.

She looked away from the column of smoke rising from the top of the mountain as a group of birds flew over them, their wings pounding hard. For a moment she thought it was a huge hawk that had passed over them, but the gaudy green feathers had nothing to do with the ocher plumage of the huge bird. Sometimes she longed for that freedom, and she had had to silence the call of the sea with decisive determination. She hadn’t been out to sea since Maui left.

Today she became eighteen. Almost a year later and the pain had concealed itself within her routine and her duties of towards her town but it had diminished little, nor she had stopped playing with her hook looking at the sky in search of a familiar form. It didn’t matter how many happy faces congratulated her today, how many hugs and gifts she received, none of them would quench her suffering. Maui would arrive in a few days and she would have to face him with courage and beg for the forgiveness of her best friend. She couldn’t avoid a wave of nervousness traveling through the growing fear of the future encounter.

A wind was beginning to rise in the north, and the dark clouds covered the island little by little. Soon there would be a storm. She looked back at the smoke column of the mountain.

 

* * *

 

 Her hair was wrapped in flowers; her skin stained with charcoal and oils, her clothes colorful and soft, and her heart tightened in a knot that reached her throat, suffocating her and making her feel sick. Today she would see Maui for the first time in a year and she hated every second that passed. Her parents had desperately tried to make her feel better but she had become more and more desperate every day. She sighed, letting her friends finish brushing her hair, adding more perfume and oils. At that moment her mother came in and, with all that had passed this week, she could barely contain the urge to jump into her arms and bury the head in her chest to feel protected again.

"Moana..." her mother whispered with love. She lifted her head to look at her dark eyes.

"Mom..." she felt so weak and so, so sad. Sina gasped and approached her daughter to brush her hair behind her ear. She let herself enjoy the welcome contact. Sina took a breath and opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly realized that they were not alone and stated with a half smile.

"You look beautiful, my child."

"Thank you" 

She looked at the two young women who were helping her daughter and asked them to leave. Once alone, she rushed over and took one of Moana’s hands.

The sound of a hawk and a general exclamation from outside interrupted them and immediately both girls peered at the door warning of the arrival of the god and the need to leave.

"I guess it's time," Moana said simply.

"Moana," her mother tried again, but she had begun to grow impatient. She shrugged and with a sad smile went to the door. Sina grabbed her hand and brought it to her breast, holding it in hers. "Be strong."  

The look on her mother's face crushed her, but before she had time to say anything else she was dragged away and led down a flower corridor to the general cabin.

Her ears were clogged, her heart throbbed in her chest and in her head the image of her mother kept repeating over and over again ‘ _ be strong’ _ . 

With that in mind she raised her head, bumping into her father and Maui at the door of the Chief's big cabin. Maui wore a pair of leis and a lavalava to match the rest of the presents. His hair stretched long over his broad shoulders and his bearing was haughty and confident. The only thing different about him was that cold empty look. She avoided the urge to run toward him. This was their wedding, she had to keep her composure for the moment and wait for them to be together to talk alone. When they reached the firm step she stopped in front of Maui and gave a pitiful smile but he didn’t give a second look before facing Tui. She looked down sadly and then caught the little mini Maui waving his hand with withdrawal. Moana smiled at him, avoiding a sob, and bit her lip. Mini Moana was still in place, her arm raised and a wide mouth open in a triumphant grimace. She closed her eyes tightly and pressed her arms to her sides to calm the changing emotions inside and with a last sigh and a look at her father, he began to speak.

All they had to do was accept the beginning of life in each other and before they realized they had to end it with a kiss. Moana tensed and turned to him with her jaw clenched and her breathing quick. She hadn’t remembered this part of the celebration. She pursed her lips and raised her head bravely. Maui stared at her for a moment, sighed softly with a half-smile and leaned forward. She felt her resolve crumble and she found herself closing her eyes tightly, her hands trembling at her sides. However instead of feeling a warm pressure on the lips this started in her brow to her nose and opened her eyes to meet face to face with Maui, his forehead leaning on hers. After a few seconds he let her go with a half sad smile. Astonished, she looked at her mother and her father for any sign of rejection and found them both with the same smile. The knot in her stomach faded completely and became a bitter void.

"Oh..." she whispered, was that a greeting or a farewell? The demigod turned and faced the village. Again the cheers erupted, preventing any kind of questioning and letting themselves be guided to where the celebration would continue. She couldn’t not help but glance over at Maui, but he was already distracted, enjoying the attention of the islanders. Not even his tattoos turned to look at her.

 

"Who wants to hear how I defeated Mahuika and stole the fire?" Everyone exclaimed in astonishment, and Maui smiled knowingly. "Or how I slowed the sun!" Another wave of cheers preceded him, and he placed the hook over his shoulder, broadening his chest to strut.

"How you recovered the heart of Te Fiti!" cried a childish voice from the audience. Maui's chest deflated and he looked at them with a grimace of perplexity. Obviously the people had been talking about the great demigod Maui asking for the mortal hand and the stories and legends of how they had met would have spread like wildfire and that was the story of both of them.

"Seriously? I have raised islands from the sea! I stole the fire! Don’t you want me to tell you how I got this tattoo?" he waited for someone to show some interest in some of his victories, but they all looked at him expectantly and some children looked at him with a pout. He sighed in exasperation, rolled his eyes and let out an uneasy gasp and dug the hook into the ground so he could have his hands free. He clapped in front of his chest and shrank dramatically tapping his heel on the floor with rhythm.

"Well, let's begin, That morning, I was in my cave finishing my wonderful sculpture" he showed his biceps imitating the figure he had been sculpting "when my stomach resounded with hunger, I decided to go down to the beach. The shrimp are my favorite food and found on the rocks so it was time to hunt. Then I saw it..." he said in a soft and dark voice, they all opened their mouths in amazement wondering what he saw "... there, on the beach, in front of me was... A boat!" he exclaimed, just as he had years ago.

 

"But your father insisted that it had to be blue," Sina said, rolling her eyes with a grimace of annoyance. Moana let out a small laugh.

“A boat!" somebody shout from afar. Moana jumped in the seat and looked back to where the group sat listening to Maui. Her heart began to pound in her ears. He was telling their story. Before she could even realize what she was doing she was jumping over the table and running toward him. Passing through the crowd she saw a cane, probably belonged to the old man sitting next to it, she quickly grabbed it, twirling it through the air before falling firmly into her hands.

"Then I lifted the canoe and there was that chicken poking his head out of the sand" he paused giving the audience a space to laugh. "I swear that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen in my life. Well...” he thought for a few seconds "yes, totally.”

"And then?" said a bright-eyed girl with emotion. Maui smiled at her and opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted when he noticed a momentary pressure on his back and turned with surprise to find Moana looking at him aggressively with the cane poking him. The public exploded with joy, ignorant of the uncomfortable silence that reigned between their two protagonists. Maui had tensed at the sight of her, clenching his jaw almost enough to make his teeth ring, the look of determination on Moana’s face made his hands wet in his fists at his sides. When they stopped applauding she spoke:

"Maui, shapeshifter, demigod of the wind and sea, hero of all. I'm... "Maui smiled half-way and looked at the people sideways.

"I rectify, the most ridiculous thing was to see her jump off the cliff and fall on the water" he interrupted. Moana stopped talking with a babble.

"What?" he ignored her.

"You should have seen her. She jumped like a real warrior with a monstrous scream and suddenly, Puf!" he gestured with his hands in a comical way, "a meter from my canoe. I could have stayed all morning watching her repeat that."

"It was my canoe!" she shouted, striking him again with the cane trying to keep her face serious, but a half smile betrayed her. Moana rose from her defensive posture and dug the cane into the ground with a thud.

"Details" with a swift move, Maui kicked the cane which shot out of her hands and fell elegantly into his palm. "And now" he pointed to her with it, "I’ll tell you all how I left you locked up in the cave."

Over the next hour they both told the story of their adventure together. Interrupting each other, joking and pushing for attention every time they had a detail of importance. Everyone laughed when one time, Maui grabbed her by the head and put her behind him when she had begun to relate some extremely uncomfortable moment for him, as when he lost against Tamatoa. They shared smiles and complacent looks and for a moment they both forgot their resentment in order to satisfy their audience with their wonderful story.

 

Maui leapt into position with his tongue out and furious grimace ending the haka. Moana waited beside him to finish the dance, then walked slowly toward him.

"But Te Fiti was not there. Maui told me that I had to put her heart in the spiral and Te Kā

had one" she pointed at her chest. "Then I asked the sea to let her come to me."

"And since I didn’t know what was happening I jumped to save her" he shrugged and gave her a look of pride "but she didn’t need me."

Moana turned her head so hard that she felt a strain on her neck. He tightened his fists, his eyes lost in front, frowning as if he were reliving the situation over and over again in his head.

"You came to save me?" 

Maui looked at her with a sad half smile, relaxing.

"Of course I did." He seemed to realize where and with whom they were and he swelled his chest, pulling his mane back with a graceful movement. "I'm Maui."

"And what happened then?" asked a shy childish voice. Maui was the first to act and before Moana realized he put an arm around her shoulders pulling her toward him while explaining how she had restored the heart. He didn’t notice Moana's tense stance in his arms. She was unable to find words,  she just heard Maui’s voice in the background and the laughs and whistles, but it was as if she heard it all through a bubble. Everything was far away and Maui's words repeated over and over in her head.

Everyone applauded in ecstasy and he tightened his grip on her arm in a caring gesture. Moana tensed even more, her breath shaking. Maui had gone to find her, was going to face Te Kā with his hands as his only weapon to save her. Te Kā, a demon that he hadn’t been able to defeat even with his hook and he had jumped without hesitation to a sure death only for her. Unable to help it, a groan of pain left her throat as the weight fell on her shoulders. Her legs trembled, barely able to hold her. The sound alerted Maui to her.

"Moana?"

She heard someone calling her but it sounded so far away and drowned in her heartbeat. Her breathing quickened, her shoulders jerked and she raised her trembling hands to try to avoid the movement but by then her whole body trembled wildly. The arm around her shoulders jerked away and she soon felt a hand touching her cheek. She jerked away, heard her name again and felt a pair of hands on her arms as she shook herself with a cry.

“No!" she shouted and her feet moved alone, running quickly away from the group. She heard someone shout her name but she didn’t stop.

She saw only faces blurred by speed and tears as she ran. She felt so, so stupid. She had attacked Maui where it had hurt him most without even asking or trusting him enough to sit and let him explain himself. He had kept his promise to help her and in return she had destroyed him. They hadn’t started well, he had stolen the boat leaving her on an island without provisions, had tried to throw her from the boat, had tried to flee leaving her with the kakamora, used her as bait for Tamatoa... but when he recovered the hook tried to save her from Tamatoa, taught her to sail, saved her from Te Kā, prevented her from marrying a man she didn’t love and who would surely keep her only to become owner of her people and for a future and secured Inheritance of chiefs. They were friends. He had been her best and closest friend. They had shared fear, dreams, secrets and illusions, and she had hurt him.

"Moana!" she hit a body and tried to pull away from it by pulling their hands from her body but the grip was too strong. 

"Moana, are you okay? What's happening to you?"

Recognizing her mother's voice, she stopped fighting the embrace and buried herself in it, desperately crying desolately.

"Shhh," her mother whispered, stroking her long hair. "It's okay. I got you. I got you, baby."

Sina looked up at the movement and found Maui a few feet away in an uncomfortable position and not knowing how to react. Moana was still crying in her arms unconscious of the third guest who had come after her. Sina gave Maui a sad look and his posture sank. He had not meant for her to feel this way and now he felt all the anger and bitterness falling on his shoulders. He had made a decision, the decision was to make her happy and even now she didn’t see it, in a future he was sure that she will rejoice once she realized that he had no intention of intruding on her life in any way. No, never again. Trying not to make a noise, he walked away without looking back.

Once she managed to calm her crying she told her mother what had happened and she told her that Maui had run after her. They talked long enough that her cheeks and red eyes returned to their original brown color and her breathing calmed down. Once they returned they sat at the table of the chiefs to continue enjoying the evening. Moana kept looking at where the group had surrounded Maui, who remained the center of attention with their stories, laughter and dance. For a moment she envied each and every one of those who could share the same soil with him. Sina had assured her that Maui had gone after her, that he had been sufficiently preoccupied to go and look for her to make sure she was well. She had to talk to him, clarify things, at least now Maui would stay there with her so they would have time to talk and start from scratch.

She felt her mother's hand on hers and they gathered the foreheads together as a symbol of affection.

“Are you OK?"

"Surprisingly, yes” she looked back at Maui as the sound of laughter deepened.

"He looks like a good man, Moana." She nodded, her heart in a fist. And she had hurt Maui, knowingly and willingly, with all the hatred and tension of the moment. She knew him, she knew he would never tie her to the island. Both would travel together as always, now she wouldn’t have to call him to see him as they would live in Motunui together. They had to form a family but she wasn’t going to have to sacrifice her freedom and if she had to choose anyone, known or to know, she knew that Maui would have been the first one to ask. She had to apologize when she had a chance, if only Maui stopped looking at her in such a cold way she could find the courage to approach him. 

Maybe later... 

She reddened noticeably. Tonight she would stop being a  _ puhi _ . With trembling hands she opened the shell of her pendant and took the hook pressing it between her fingers. She hoped this day was over soon. At least she was sure he would not hurt her conscientiously. Or so she hoped.

 

When the sky faded into ochre, gold and rose, her father called Maui and he approached slowly to the table of the Chiefs putting his fist on his heart. Tui inclined his head in a swift movement and Moana almost felt compassion for the distressed face that the demigod made until she realized why. 

It was time.

Maui approached the chief and murmured under his breath, clasping his hand firmly. Sina was next, giving him a big hug, to the surprised look of Moana. They whispered a few words and then Maui looked at her. His smile disappeared completely and he nodded toward the cabin. She swallowed hard and led him into the great room where a bed rested in the middle and was solemnly decorated lounge with a pair of tapestries of legendary ancient monsters.

Once the door closed, she turned to face him.

"Maui..."

"Lie down," he commanded in a hard voice, passing next to her to go to a corner where there were a pile of leaves piled up. Moana was surprised to recognize his famous skirt. Without another word, Maui began to undo the knot of the lavalava he wore. Moana blushed and turned around trying to ignore her desperate heartbeat. After a few minutes she felt a hard hand on her shoulder pushing her down. Unable to avoid it, she fell back on the bed and sat up quickly, frightened of what was to come. But Maui simply stepped past her, ignoring her and sat down, leaning his back against the wall with his sheet skirt in place. Moana frowned and opened her mouth to close it seconds later with a snap. Her mother had told her about the night after their marriage. From the time she reached a suitable age her mother had sung the story of the eel and the cave and how, being  _ puhi _ , she could not maintain a relationship with other young people of the village like the other girls and had to wait until then. This was necessary to confirm the marriage and she was sure that being in separate corners in the same room indefinitely in silence wasn’t what was performed in this ritual. She watched her companion up and through his tattoos on his chest where mini Maui was sitting leaning against a small island, apparently as if was talking to him or listening to him. She decided to intervene.

"Maui, I..."

"Shh," he hissed sharply, giving her a hard look that left her momentarily speechless.

After a while in silence Moana tried again by sucking up all the air her lungs allowed her.

"Maui, please" this time he reacted, but in not the way she expected. He rose with a grunt and approached her menacingly. Moana cringed in fear and he froze. His face flushed with fury, and little Maui ran to hide behind an island. He grabbed one of the blankets and threw it over her, covering her body. Moana opened her mouth again to apologize for her reaction. She knew Maui would not hurt her, she hadn’t wanted to react that way.

"Get undressed."

"What?"

"Get undressed" he repeated in the same tone. This Maui reminded her so much of the man she found after the breaking of his hook that she couldn’t help obeying. This had to happen tonight and it was better not to make him rage over the account. If only could they talk to clarify things and so be able to calm down enough to spend the rest of the night without this terror. Tears of frustration stung her eyes but she blinked away. She must be strong. She pushed her clothes off the side of the bed and made sure the sheet was wrapped tightly around her.

She waited patiently for Maui, who approached her and with a sudden movement pulled familiar knife from his belt. Moana almost backed away crawling, but he grabbed her ankle and held her in place.

"Don’t move," he growled. She looked at him for a moment with her heart about to overflow with fear. He released her ankle when she didn’t fight back and with a gentle slip the blade cut the palm of his hand leaving a clean wound where blood began to emanate. Moana exclaimed with the sudden need to get up and cover his wound. What stopped her was Maui clenching his fist just below her waist and letting the blood spatter the sheet carefully. Moana was petrified of the red color falling in front of her. Finally he pulled away and looked at the knife in his other hand. It almost seemed like he was going to make a gesture and throw it to the ground, but this returned to his belt without any regard, as if it had always belonged there. He bent to pick up her clothes and threw them over her before grabbing the stained cloth and headed for the door, but not before retrieving his hook that rested in the corner.

"Wait," she exclaimed, surprisingly this time Maui stopped. "Where are you going?"

He replied over his shoulder.

"I'm leaving."

"Wait, we need to talk..." Maui let out an exasperated sigh and turned to face her.

"We've talked enough already."

"Sorry, please, wait." She sat up, grasping the clothes to her chest. "Maui!" shouted Moana desperately. No, this couldn’t be a farewell. Maui? When he turned to go to the door her legs answered for themselves. She tried to get up, clutching her clothes against her but felt them numb and fell to the ground in the first step with a thud as she called his name in a groan. If Maui listened he made no move to stop. She repeated it again but the demigod continued to walk toward the door.

"I gave you your life back, do whatever you want with it." Once in front of the tapestry he paused long enough to look over his shoulder for the last time and say in a husky whisper a dry:

"You're welcome."

"Maui!" the tapestry closed behind him to open seconds later by the figure of Sina who ran at her side. Moana raised her arm in her direction in despair. "Mom!"

"Moana, goddess, are you okay? There was so much blood" she held her cheeks in her hands to observe her disjointed face and then she tried to corroborate what she had seen in the cloth that the demigod had laid out when he left "You are hurt!"

"It's not mine, Mom, please. Don’t let him go" she gripped her with desperate force to look at her. "Please, I made a mistake. Don’t let him go!"

As soon as the words came out of her mouth her mother nodded, got up and ran out of the cabin. Moana grabbed her clothes and began to dress quickly.

Her legs trembled when she stood up, but when she took the first step they were as strong as rocks. No matter what she looked like with her unmade clothes and tangled hair, she left the store and looked around for them. A sensation in her heart led her to the sea and, as fast as the wind, she ran down to the beach with her hair flying in the wind and blood roaring in her veins. When she came to glimpse the shore she saw only her parents hugging each other, looking at the horizon where a winged figure disappeared with the sun. Unable to avoid it, her knees stopped holding her and she fell into the sand, watching her best friend leave in the distance. Thick clouds were approaching like a funeral march in a clear reflection of how her heart felt.

 

* * *

 

She pulled the liana vines hard to keep the roof of leaves standing. Her feet slipped through the mud and the rope burned her hands when a violent gust of wind rushed against her. She could barely see a hand in front of her face in the darkness of the night, the wind and the heavy rain that lashed the island. In a week the warmth and good weather of Motunui had disappeared under dark clouds that foreshadowed a storm. When the rain began to fall hard, she hurried up the mountain to protect the bonfire, as she had on each occasion when tropical rains whipped the island. Nothing had prepared her for this storm. It was violent and brutal, relentless and powerful. The cover of the fire had nearly collapsed, and after barely an hour the lianas and wooden columns had begun to destabilize, and now the only thing that kept it on its feet was Moana's stubbornness driven by her sheer willpower. Another lightning bolt plowed through the night, illuminating the clearing with an furious electric blue. Moana screamed as a gust of wind pushed her to the side, letting her fall on one of her knees. She glanced up furiously, unable to see anything from the rain against her face.

"You can’t beat me!" she shouted to any god, demon, human or being who heard it. She grabbed the rope with her teeth when the wind gave her a few minutes of peace and tied her hair in a tight bun to keep it away from her face. With a nimble movement she passed the rope around her wrists and grabbed the tarp with tight fists and taut shoulders. Apparently the storm took the comment as a challenge and in the next downpour her feet slipped through the mud and fell face down on the ground. The ropes slipped from her hands and the cover rushed to the floor across the bonfire.

"No!" she screamed. Ignoring the sticky dirt in her hands, she scrambled up and ran to try to lift the heavy sheeting. "Come on, come on!" she groaned, struggling to get the structure to stand, sinking her feet almost to the ankles. 

"COME ON!"

Two strong and agile arms joined her.

"Dad!" she exclaimed when she saw the dark eyes of her father looking at her with fire.

"Get up." He helped her stabilize, and they both covered the nearly-extinct bonfire. "This will not be enough. The legs will not stand and the wind and rain come from the left. The side where the wind blows must be plugged."

"I have nothing to cover it!"

"There, by the road!." Moana ran to where her father pointed and saw a blanket of leaves on the ground. She carried it to the cover and tried to catch it while Tui kept it steady. 

"Moana, the legs will not hold."

She looked at the structure desperately, trying to find some remedy to keep it standing. 

"Set those down for a moment."

Tui seemed to think for a few minutes, and with a strong nod pulled the rope tightly and shouted to his daughter; "Give me a stake."

Moana took one of the sticks from the pile of wood she kept to fan the fire and pushed it hard on the ground at her father's feet to bind it firmly. He grabbed her arm and pulled her to come closer and shouted into the whistling wind.

"You have to secure the legs and fan the flame." Moana nodded and started to move but the grip kept her still. She looked back at his father's serious face. "This storm is not natural." Moana squeezed her jaw knowingly. "But we will resist as long as we can." Tui finished solemnly. She smiled gratefully and ran for more wood to boost the fire.

 

 

When Sina left at dawn the storm had subsided. They had woken up in the middle of the night and had listened to the storm and feared for their daughter. Tui had asked her to stay while he went to make sure everything was fine. When neither returned through the night, her worst fears were elevated. She spent the entire storm waiting for her family to return. When the rosy sunrise peeked out and still had no news she decided to go look. She could not help but bring a hand to her chest with a gasp as she watched the smoke column that had decorated Motunui for a year gone. With the name of her daughter on her lips ran up the mountain fearing the worst. The road was arduous and slippery, some areas of the road were inaccessible and dangerous but all it did was delay her. There was nothing to stop her from reaching her family. Tui was standing with his back to the road. He looked in good shape despite all the mud and water covering his clothes and his skin. He recognized her with a sad look and a shake of his head. Sina saw a small, muddy figure lying on the ground in front of the defunct bonfire. Her shoulders shook with silent sobbing, and she gripped handfuls of soaked ashes that darkened her hands. The cover lay to one side totally shattered and unusable. A good reflection of the young woman who cried beside it. Setting aside her own safety, she ran to her and knelt on the ground to hug her tightly. Moana let out a sob that became a cry of rage and pain, clutching her mother tightly. Maui had not returned. He had given up. Tui watched them for a few minutes in silence before walking slowly and solemnly toward them.

"He's not coming back," he said abruptly. Sina turned her head to face him over her daughter’s shoulder.

"Tui!" she shouted harshly. He ignored her and leaned forward in front of his daughter, grabbing her shoulders and giving her a loud shake, not caring about his wife's screams of hysteria.

"Dad..." Moana began, but stopped when she was shaken again.

"He will not come back, Moana. You've waited a year without leaving the island, day after day coming here waiting for something that will not happen." The girl opened her eyes in puzzlement. "It's time for you to forget this, take a canoe and do what you do best: Go get him."

Sina stopped talking suddenly and Moana opened her mouth in surprise.

"Dad?"

"Go to get him. When you do grab him by his ear, take him in your canoe and bring him back home, do you understand me?"

"But the tribe..." Tui shook her again.

"Do you understand me?"

Moana nodded and another wave of tears carried her into her father's arms. Sina came to embrace them too and Tui wrapped them in his arms with all the affection of his heart. Releasing them, he caressed her daughter's dirty cheek by pulling away one of the straggling strands of her shriveled bun.

"A boat will be ready by dawn tomorrow. Rest for today. The fire of Motunui will continue burning in your absence to guide your way back home."

 

* * *

 

The next morning. With the rising sun, the canoe ready, maps of the islands prepared, the wind in the sails and her gaze on the horizon she departed for the first time in a year offshore leaving behind her her home, lit up with a small fire rising on the summit of the mountain. They would give her a year of freedom. A year to find and recover Maui.

 

**TO BE CONTINUED**

 

 

**NEXT UPDATE FRIDAY 12th**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the kind words and reviews! In this chapter is the supposed marriage. I read that there were no marriage in the Polynesian culture but there was a kind of union celebration and the puhis (the upper-ranking women of the tribe) had to remain virgins until the marriage so everything I wrote is based In these theories and part by my own inventiveness.
> 
> I hope you have liked and I want to remember that Spanish is not my first language so I regret all possible grammar and writing errors and if you find some and you want to let me know, please do. Thank you for reading!
> 
> NEXT UPDATE FRIDAY 12th


	3. Chapter 3

It only took two days to reach her first destination. No doubt thanks to the wind and the tides of her good friend the ocean that after a year received her as a long lost friend and took the new mission that had been commissioned very seriously. She jumped out of the canoe as soon as she ran aground on the sand and looked around in the forest of stones with hooks drawn on them in search of some hint of life. Slowly she went to where she remembered that the entrance to the cave was, and groaned when she found it covered. As closed and empty as when Maui left her trapped inside. She returned to the boat, jumped aboard and sat on the deck to study her maps. She circled the desolate island where she found him. She knew that Maui had hated that island with all his soul and that it was certainly the last place he wanted to be again, but it had been the place where they met and something inside her longed to return to the beginning. So much so to make sure that Maui had really not come back and to remove that thorn that sometimes made her think that everything had been a dream and that she had never seen the demigod. But there were the hooks drawn on the rocks, there was the huge stone that had sealed it momentarily and she was sure that if it slipped through the old hole in the ceiling, she would see the broken statue on the ground.

If she calculated the sun well in the sky, she still had a couple of hours of daylight left before nightfall and she did not want to spend another night at sea with the possibility of drifting. As a friend of the ocean, she knew the dangers. She would spend the night on the island and leave at dawn. She returned to the beach and decided to take a moment carefully checking all the drawings that Maui had made during his stay. Any visitor would know how to recognize the hook on the rocks and know that they would have a relationship to him. She stroked one end with her fingers and then came up with an idea. She rummaged through loose rocks laying around the ground and with a determined step and the idea in her mind, went towards the rock that covered the cave and gave the first blow against the rock creating the first relief.

The next morning, with her aching hands and heart in a knot, she left the island, leaving behind her on the rock a carving of herself waving from the boat  that she had seen on Maui's chest on the last day.. She hoped that if Maui returned, for whatever reason, he knew she had gone on her quest, that she had been there and that she missed him.

 

The nights at sea were quiet. She slept knowing that her friend would not let her drift too far, and in the morning sailed fiercely and bravely over the waves, feeling the scorching sun on her dark skin. She missed her home but it was a pain that could not be compared to the emptiness of her loss. That was the only thing that kept her going. She distracted herself by singing and humming a song that was ringing in her head. The story of Maui, everything he had done for the world and for what was once loved and forgotten after the theft of the heart. Would the islands remember what Maui did for all of them, or would they have become accustomed to life without memories or legends? With those thoughts in mind, a week later she reached a second island marked on the map. The tribe of this island was sweet and attentive, they shared languages and some customs. She would spend a night there and ask about Maui when she had a chance.

 

* * *

 

"With his magic hook!" Moana shouted with one last blow on the drums. The whole town erupted in cheers behind the magnificent song. She smiled at them and hugged the children who approached her.

"Did Maui really do all that?" one of them asked, his eyes sparkling with childlike wonder.

"Of course yes! And much more!" she exclaimed with the same enthusiasm. "Ask the ocean. It accompanied us on our adventure to bring back the heart of Te Fiti."

All the children screamed in excitement and burst into excited whispers. Slowly she stood up and approached the island chief and his wife, bowing her head in greeting.

"Moana of Motunui. It has been a pleasure to have you with us these past days."

"The pleasure and honor has been mine," she replied humbly.

"Stories from your island are told. Apparently you were blessed by Maui himself, "said the woman. Moana felt a prick in her chest.

"It's been months since I've visited my home. I am happy to know that it is still prosperous and protected" the woman gave her a sad smile.

"I imagine singing that song will help you on your journey and believe that Maui will hear your singing and will continue to protect Motunui," the chief said softly. Moana shook her head.

"He's the one who brought me on this trip. I have been trying to find him for a long time, traveling to all the islands I have found in search of news and some sighting of a huge hawk."

The pair of chiefs shared a confused look.

"Are you looking for a demigod?" 

Moana shrugged, not knowing what to say.

"There have been islanders who have seen the giant bird. I have followed the course they have given me and I have sung from my home to here in case he managed to hear me."

"And it doesn't scare you? Alone, so young and far from your home..."

"I'm never alone" she laughed.

The chief was about to speak again when a groan was heard from behind them, at the door of the chief's tent.

"Kea," said a whining, sharp voice.

"Mother," the chief, Kea, turned to her and gently grabbed her arm by running a hand down her back to hold her. The old woman fixed pale white eyes on Moana. She gasped as she felt the woman reach the bottom of her soul without even being able to see her face.

"Son, that foreign girl..." she stepped forward, which temporarily unbalanced her son.

"She's a visitor, Mother. She is the daughter of the chief of the tribe of Motunui and is visiting some islands to meet us and to supply her boat on the way to the next."

The woman stopped paying attention to him in the middle of the sentence and looked directly into Moana’s brown eyes.

"You mentioned the shapeshifter Maui."

"Mother..." he looked at Moana uncomfortably.

"Your mother is talking," she snapped. "Come here, young woman. Let me see you better."

Moana did not know how to interpret that, but she came over anyway and let the woman caress her face, running her fingers over her eyelids, lips, nose, cheeks, chin... until she finished stroking her eyebrows and running her hand from the root to the tips of her hair.

"Mother, this is too much..." 

The woman interrupted her son again in a pensive voice.

"I see what you're looking for and you will not find it here." 

Moana let out a gasp.

"Do you know where I can find him?" her throat closed as the woman shook her head.

"No, but you do."

"I.... I don’t…"

"He told you" her mind went blank after those words.  _ Had he told her? When? _

"Where?" she clasped her hands in trembling fingers. "Please, lady, where?"

"Only you know that, my girl," she said, stroking one of her hands. Moana turned to the chiefs with a shuddering breath and without a word she turned and ran to the shore as fast as her feet allowed her. With a leap she climbed in her canoe and opened the hold searching through all the ropes, food and other things until she found her roll of scrolls. She opened them and arranged them in order, crossing the marks of the crossed out islands where she had already been. She placed map after map as a puzzle to finish with a map of all the islands around Mutonui. She picked up the coal and struck out the current island and revised it again. There were only two more islands left and they were on the other side of the sea that she had traveled but that is not what she was looking for.

_ ‘Wow, not bad’ _ she heard Maui's voice in her head  _ ‘There you are missing one’ _ she finally found the parchment they had been looking at that night on her seventeenth birthday.

"There," she whispered, gripping it tightly, her cheeks burning.

"Moana?" the young woman lifted her head in confusion and saw the pair of chiefs on the shore.

"Oh, oh" she picked it up quickly and put it back in dismay. "I am sorry. I'm sorry I ran out so quickly like that, it's just that..." Kea raised her hand to stop her talk.

"We understand. My mother is a very wise but very old woman. Don’t take anything she says seriously, she's very sick and lately she talks nonsense," he murmured carefully and his voice was sad.

Moana disagreed.

"This adventure in itself is crazy. I have no fixed course or destination. I have no clue or way, no one has actually seen Maui in years. I am being guided by people who have seen birds and mirages. But she... she's made me remember something. She's right. Maui told me about an island I have not yet discovered. It's little but it's the only clue I have and I have little time left. I have nothing to lose by trying."

"We don’t want you to suffer because of the words of a poor old woman," said the wife of the chief, Moana looked at her sadly.

"I suffer with every passing day. Maui was my friend and I treated him very poorly. Already just distracting me in this quest, doing something to at least try, makes me feel better. I can’t wait any longer, I will not live forever and I have duties to my people as well." 

The woman was the first to approach her and pressed her forehead gently against Moana’s.

"I suppose this is farewell." Moana pursed her lips and nodded. The chief approached her and imitated his wife.

"I'm glad to have met you. Please say goodbye, and Thank You to the old lady for me" they both nodded.

"Do you have enough food?"

"I resupplied yesterday. I was planning to leave this afternoon but ... "Kea smiled.

"Come on, we don’t want to delay you."

Moana pushed the canoe out of the sand and jumped back to the boat. She raised her hand as a farewell.

"See you soon."

 

* * *

 

A small sandbar of only ten meters around greeted her from the water. There was no vegetation, no rocks... it was a pile of sand that drowned in the water. Moana pressed the oar in her hand.

"This isn’t an island, Maui," she whispered heavily.

She had nothing to mark her presence on the small ground. In the uninhabited islands she had carved symbols in the stones, in the villages she had sung her song about him... but there was nothing here. She got out of the boat, untying the ribbon that bound her skirt and buried one end in the sand leaving the other to blow in the wind. She grabbed the garment, took a piece of rope and tied it firmly to her waist. She had a month left before she had to go home. There was only one place she wanted to go.

 

* * *

 

A ball of memories took her as she saw the recognizable sleeping female figure outlined by the mountains. She tied her hair in a bun and jumped out of the canoe, dragging her into the sand. She inclined her head toward the mountains in greeting and caressed the sand with one hand gently.

"Hello, Te Fiti," she murmured. She stepped into the jungle enjoying the wet grass on her feet and the palm leaves brushing her arms as she passed. After so many months on the sea, she had missed the smell of the jungle and the freshness of the shadow on her dry and dark shoulders punished by the sun. She was lost in the area, ignoring the small animals and sounds of the different creatures that lived in the place. As she thought, she had not seen a single hint of a second person on the island. She sat on the sand facing the beach to enjoy the sunset on the horizon.. 

"He's not here, is he?" she asked the air. 

It's over. Maui was not coming back, ever. She felt a stab in her chest and groaned, pressing her hand on it so she could fight the pain. Instead of the warm skin she found a cold shell. With a flick of her fingers she opened her pendant and dropped the hook over her hand. 

This was the end of her journey. She had waited for a year. She had been looking for him for almost another year. It was obvious that Maui didn’t want to be found. Tears stung her eyes but she blinked and swallowed hard. No, this was her fault. She had done this to her friend, her best friend. He would not have wanted her tears, he did not want anything from her. It was time to go home and realize that it was going to be her and only her for the rest of her life. The old lady was wrong, Maui had never told her where to find him, it was he who had always gone to visit her and join her adventures.

Today she would leave the island of Te Fiti, as the last present to the demigod, she would leave behind the hook on the island in case one day at some point in his long life he returned and could remember her with this small memory. To remember a lost friendship, stained by her immaturity and her lack of confidence. Today she would leave the memories of his smile, his embraces, his gifts and their laughter together... Today she would forget and continue with a life as she always thought she would live. Maui had given her the opportunity to live for herself and for what she wanted to offer to her people instead of being forced into an unwanted marriage.

A finger stroked the grooves in the carving, smiling sadly at the engraving of her island. She missed her home so much. She could see the huge mountain, the waves on the shore, the birds flying in the sky and the sun firmly tied over them. She sobbed and turned it around to continue her inspection. This would be the last time she would see his gift and wanted to burn it in her mind.

She gently stroked the stars and the waves on the other side. It was a simple drawing compared to the previous one. One view was from the sea to the island and the other, she supposed, from the island to the sea. She blinked for a moment. She did not remember those stars in that position. Her heart pounded in her ears. Maui would not have made that mistake. They had stayed together enough nights counting stars, both lying on the sand of the beach while Maui pointed star to star and told the stories and names behind them.

‘ _ He told you where to find him _ .’ She looked up at the indigo sky with intensity. She could almost see the first stars appear. She scrutinized each luminous point and smiled wickedly when she found them.

"I got you."

 

* * *

 

The sun was bright in the sky, matching the fire that ran in those moments in her veins. She didn’t know how many hours she hadn’t slept for. She had ridden in her canoe the instant she noticed the stars and had kept her course all night. In her head, saying over and over everything she wanted to say to Maui when she faced him. She yanked the sail with a quick, brisk movement and the whole canoe rattled with the force of the wind. 

She heard him before she saw him; A shrill scream echoing around her. And there was the huge dark-tailed hawk flapping his wings into the leeward wind. For the first time in a long time Moana felt alive again.

"Maui!" she shouted with all the power of her lungs. The animal screeched again, but didn’t let up. She frowned. If the demigod wanted to play she would play. She tied her hair in the bun and clutched the rudder and rope tightly. She looked towards the sea:

"Help me, ocean!" a small wave appeared behind her and added to the impulse of the wind causing that the canoe to almost float on the air. At one point the hawk changed course abruptly trying to make her lose the chase, but Moana smiled and jumped on the side and turned on the spot. Without even giving her a second glance, Maui opened his wings as much as he could and increased speed to the maximum. Snapping her teeth, she headed back. After a few more minutes of dancing, Maui saw a clear advantage and disappeared slowly in the sky.

"No no! Maui!" cried Moana. "MAUI!" The sea shook her at such a speed that the ribbon holding her hair untied, releasing her mane. She shook her head to brush her hair away from her face and clenched her teeth in despair. Maui continued to fly a few feet until he began to plummet. With a blue flash he turned into something that Moana couldn't recognize in the distance and disappeared into the water.

As the canoe reached the place where Maui had entered, it began slowing down until it stopped at the exact point. She had stopped reacting as soon as the figure fell into the water. She stood there with her eyes lost and her face stoney. Suddenly the reality of what had just happened made a dent in her consciousness and her shoulders began to shake violently as tears slipped from her face. Her knees collapsed and she fell to the deck. With what little strength she had left, she crawled into the center of the canoe, kneeling, her head buried in her hair and arms. Her crying was all that was heard around her as her heart was breaking more and more. It was almost as painful as a physical wound, and her whole soul was suffering for it. She hugged herself with her forehead on the deck and this time let her sadness come out. Maui had finally abandoned her. He had decided to stay away from humans and nothing she had to say would change his mind. If only she could have talked to him once. Just once.

"I'm sorry," she said in a muffled whisper. "Sorry, I'm so sorry, Maui. I am sorry…"

She choked on a sob and huddled closer to herself as if the pain would lessen the more she tightened. Maui would be a nice memory, a story to tell the children of the village, a dream she would wake up every morning in a world where she would never smile that way again.

"I have nothing else to give to you," said a voice. Moana gasped and looked to her right. A familiar shark's head watched her from the water with a serious face. Without a moment's thought she leaned forward and sank into the water before the astonished gaze of the demigod.

Before he had time to react his neck was tightly embraced by the small figure. Automatically he returned to his human form and with his hook grabbed the boat while holding Moana against him with the other arm.

"I'm sorry," she repeated over and over in a piercing cry against his neck. "Maui, forgive me. I am so sorry. I behaved horribly. Don’t go please."

Maui clenched his jaw and returned the embrace forcefully sinking his nose into the dark curls he had longed for.

"Shhh..." he gave a boost with his hook so he could get into the boat. Moana firmly clung to him with all the little strength she had left. Easily, and with obvious help from the ocean, they both fell in the boat, hugging each other. He set the hook aside to have both hands around the young woman. When she calmed down, she pulled her head from her neck to look into the dark brown eyes.

"Sorry," she said, he brushed a damp lock of hair from her face and stroked her cheek with a tear.

"Have you missed me?" he said with a half smile. Moana answered the smile shyly, but the words reminded her of all those times that Maui had asked the same thing every day that he came to visit her and she ignored him with an eye roll. Why had she behaved that way with him?

"Yes," she confessed for the first time, "yes, yes, yes!" her smile disappearing into a grimace of deep sadness as another wave of pain ran through her and her cries began again. Maui opened his mouth, not knowing what to say, but the corners of his lips began trembling.

"Don’t cry, if you cry you'll make me cry too." Moana shook her head.

"I can’t help it," she said, putting her head against his chest. Maui felt the tears sting in his eyes and clung to her tightly. Moana felt a strange pressure on her cheek and opened her wet eyes to find a tearful Mini Maui with his arms wide open in a hug. She smiled and leaned her forehead on it, squeezing both the demigods harder. One of her hands crawled up his ribs to her tattoo over his heart and traced it with a trembling finger.

"I wondered if it would have disappeared," she whispered still, her voice agitated.

"She'll never disappear." 

Moana grinned sadly and looked up into Maui's face. He watched her with a sincere smile, but his eyes were red and his cheeks moist with tears. He gently stroked her hand, drying it and stroking it with his thumb.

"I thought I would never see you again."

"I thought you wouldn’t want to see me again," he said quietly. Moana gasped.

"I waited for you, I was calling you for a year." Maui looked away. "No, look at me, I didn’t let the fire go out even once. I went up to the mountain every day to watch it... Until you sent the storm that turned it off."

With that, Maui looked at her strangely, frowning, and raised an eyebrow.

"I didn’t send any storm."

They both narrowed their eyes and looked toward the sea in the same direction. A column of water looked at them attentively but disappeared as soon as it realized it was being watched. Maui grabbed his hook without moving off the ground and threw it hard. It disappeared in the water for a few moments until the sea rose and put it back on the deck, but at a distance farther away from them. Moana put a hand on his chest, just below her tattoo.

"I called you," she said. Maui shrank back into himself. "I tried to talk to you for the entire ceremony." Maui grimaced in disgust.

"I made you cry."

"What?"

"That night. I made you cry. I never wanted to make you cry." 

Moana looked down.

"I was sad because I hurt you," she murmured. "When I heard you tell about saving me from Te Kā I felt even more horrible about how I treated you."

"Don’t feel bad, you were right to get angry. I just wish you'd listened to me sooner."

"Why not tell me before you did all this?"

"Would you have accepted it? We know each other, you would not have let anyone sacrifice for you." Moana's throat constricted with the words: Maui had sacrificed himself for her. He was choosing a fate he did not want in order to help her.

"My parents told me not long after. I was calling you for a whole year and you did not come."

"I... I was afraid" she opened her eyes in surprise.

"You? Afraid? Of what?" he clenched his jaws without answering. "Maui" Moana put her hand to his cheek and forced him to face her. "What were you afraid of?" The demigod sighed.

"I was afraid you'd really hate me."

"But I called you!"

"You hated me, Moana! I had betrayed you and didn’t know what to do to remedy it. I decided it would be best if I left and made your people happy. I gave you more coconuts and fish, I healed the sick trees, I improved the taste of food... I... I did not want you to hate me. Not you. I didn’t want to come back and have another fight" he avoided her gaze.

"I never hated you" she wiped a tear from his cheek with her thumb. "I was angry and hurt but I could never have hated you. I should have never told you that, not after everything you've done for me and my people, for all of us. I waited for you a year and then my father told me to come and find you.”

"Find me?" Maui opened his eyes in surprise.

"Yes." Moana stepped out of the embrace and sat up on her knees, Maui leaning on his elbows to look at her. "Return to Motunui. Come home with me."

Maui sat up and avoided her gaze.

"I can’t."

"What do you mean you can’t? I already asked you for forgiveness, I didn’t..."

"Is not that."

"So what?"

"Moana, you are the most intelligent and brave girl I know and you will be the most intelligent, brave and beautiful woman I will ever meet. You are like the ocean, free, safe and volatile. I wanted you to be like this forever, I didn’t want anyone to have power over you, that you were always free to be yourself. In time, when you know more and your responsibilities come to you, you will forget me... "Moana shook her head and her lips pursed, holding back tears.

"No, I’ll not forget you..."

"You will, and it will be fine. You will live your life as you wish to live it."

"But I don’t want to lose you" Maui wiped her tears.

"I'll come every time you call me. This time for real. I will come every time the flame burns on Motunui until one day you stop calling me and then I will know that you have moved on."

"I'll call you every week," she promised. Maui smiled helplessly at the idea. "Every week for the rest of my life."

"I'll always be with you when you need me."

Moana crawled between his legs and rested her head against his chest. Maui hugged her gently and rested his cheek on her head.

"I love you very much, you know that, don’t you?" 

Maui laughed.

"I love you too, little girl."

"I'm eighteen," she scoffed.

"I lost count two thousand years ago."

"Doesn’t compare" they both laughed in the embrace and were quietly silent before Maui spoke again.

"You must go home."

"In the morning. Stay with me tonight."

He had no heart to refuse.

"Maui?"

"Mm?"

"I'm glad you married me."

He suppressed a shudder and smiled as his heart filled with a warm and pleasant sensation.

 

* * *

 

"Tui!" Sina shouted as she saw a familiar boat approaching the shore. The two peered out to see the little figure run aground on the sand and jump ashore.

"She comes alone," he growled. Sina gasped and ran to see her daughter followed by her husband.

Moana walked with ease with her gaze dropped until she noticed a close presence and looked up to meet her parents. Her serious face turned a sincere smile.

Both parents sighed and wrapped their arms around her.

"Moana?" her mother asked softly. Moana nodded in a steady motion.

"I found him" she stared at the column of smoke. "I have something to do. Shall we meet for dinner? I brought gifts."

"We are eager to hear your stories," Tui replied. Moana said goodbye with another hug and ran towards the tribe. She picked up a coconut full of water and climbed the mountain. Without a second glance she extinguished the bonfire, smiled and returned home.

 

 **TO BE CONTINUED**  
  
NEXT UPDATE: FRIDAY 26TH


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I wanted to explain why I changed the name of the fic. I have been away from the internet for months because I am working on the final project for my degree, which forces me to spend most of the day busy with my studies, and then spend a little time before go to bed writing the fic (because I needed to get it out of my head) and drawing a little. Because of this I didn't realize that there was another fic in English that was called the same until a friend told me. The name was going to be Motunui's Call, because Moana called Maui from the top of the peak, but it was a very long name (in Spanish, this is a translation of my Spanish fic) so we reduced it to The Call, but of course, I didn't notice before that the name was already being used and I decided to change it to avoid confusion and problems for readers of both fics. I regret any problems this may have caused.  
> In this chapter, Maui and Moana enter into the realm of the monsters again and there they make new discoveries about themselves and each other. All history of Tamatoa and Maui's past is invented, I have no sources to mention.  
> I hope you like it.  
> Reviews would be appreciated!

"I don’t understand why you had to start the fight," she grunted, puzzled, tying the rope to the rudder. Maui was lying on his back in the canoe uneasily. Pua snoring on his stomach. They had to run away when half of the tribe had rushed toward them when he had given a strong headbutt to the supposed best warrior on the island. A warrior who had been, despite not speaking the same language, trying to woo Moana in a somewhat uncomfortable way. Maui had risen above him, his face flushed with fury, and the two of them had started yelling at each other on their own tongues. Finally he had decided to end the conversation in the worst way.

"He was an asshole” Moana rolled her eyes.

"You're jealous because he was the best warrior," she joked haughtily. Maui poked his head over Pua with a dull look and pointed at his chest.

"Demigod," he remarked as his final answer. Moana adjusted the rope and walked over to sit beside him leaning against his ribs. Maui unconsciously brought a hand to her lap and she caught it in hers, moving his fingers and caressing the skin of his knuckles. Turning toward the palm she saw the narrow, pink streak of a scar. She opened her mouth in surprise and ran her finger through the closed wound. That was the cut that had been made the night after their union, when they had to feign the consummation.

"I didn’t know it was so deep," she heard herself saying.

"I couldn’t control my strength at that moment."

"I'm sorry," Maui shrugged.

"It was worth it."

She ran her finger back over the scar.

"Wouldn’t have been better…? you know... "

"No" he was low but firm.

"I would have endured it, you know." Maui grimaced.

"That is not something that must be ‘ _endured_ ’ or taken by force. When you find the right person, if you find it, you will understand."

"Did you find the right person?" she asked softly.

"Yes, I did," came the equally tenuous statement.

Moana didn’t ask again but that answer tightened her throat uncomfortably. She barely knew anything about Maui's personal past, those people he knew and who guided his life to make him who he was, who made him laugh, made him cry, angry, love ... She turned around enough to be able to lean on his stomach, caressing Pua careful not to wake him. The sun was almost disappearing from the horizon, leaving them in a pinkish copper gloom. For an indefinite time she enjoyed the rhythm of Maui's breathing that moved her up and down. Maui made a low sound and when she raised her head she found him looking at the hook, caressing one of his reliefs with his free hand.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Hmm? Nothing in particular... maybe I should go back to a place when I leave you at home."

"Oh..." Moana said slightly head down. "Where do you want to go? I'd like to join you." Maui left what he was doing to raise his head again and frown at her.

"I'm not taking you back to Lalotai. We hardly got out of there alive last time."

"But this time you got the hook," she said.

"It's still crazy. What will we do with the pig? He will not last a day in the realm of monsters."

"Pua can stay guarding the canoe."

"Look, it's crazy for a mortal to venture there once, twice is suicidal."

"I know you'll protect me," she said with complete conviction. It might have been the harshness of her tone or faith in her words but Maui didn’t know what to say. "I miss adventures with you. Don’t just go sailing and discover islands. I mean also... you know."

"Yes, it's been a long time since anyone tried to kill us, eat us or incinerate us. Except on the island of the cannibal pirates, they wanted to make us a little of everything" Moana began to laugh. Maui rolled his eyes without understanding how being so close to death could bring a smile to the young woman.

"Please, Maui," she said, leaning her head against his stomach and looking at him expectantly. He groaned, annoyed at how easy it was for her to get him to do what she wanted.

"All right, all right," he finally grunted. He didn’t have enough power against her. "But I mean it, you have to obey every command I give you. If I tell you to run; Run, if I tell you to hide; you hide."

"Yes," she rolled her eyes impatiently.

"Moana..." he warned.

"Yes, Maui, I promise. I will do as you say."

"Good princess" she snapped her tongue and hit his stomach. He laughed and settled on his elbows. "I'd better take the oar to change course. You rest."

He picked up Pua and placed him gently in her lap, rising in the process.

"Are you going to spend the night awake? We can ask the sea to watch and so you can rest."

"Nah, I do not need to sleep as much as mortals do."

"Hmm we could take turns, you know. If you wake me up in a couple of hours I can take the oar and you can sleep."

"Sleep," he ordered softly. Moana groaned and lay on the wood, resting her head on her arms.

"Wake me up to change shifts."

She never heard Maui's answer.

 

* * *

 

It was the sun on her face that drove her back to reality. The sea was calm and the canoe silent apart from the sound of Pua eating. She opened her eyes and looked lazily around. Maui was sitting there by the oar and throwing more food at his traveling companion.

"Good morning," he said as she awoke. Moana rubbed her eyes and frowned as they didn’t move. She turned her head and found the huge, steep mountain of rocks.

"Good morning," she said, standing up. "I didn’t know we had arrived. I told you to tell me to take turns. Have you slept?"

Maui shrugged.

"I can stay awake for a month. It is not a necessity and you have to be attentive to the sea at night."

"Can we rest in Lalotai?" she asked, bending over to pick up a piece of fruit from the container.

"Spend the night in the kingdom of monsters?" Maui said with a raised eyebrow skeptically.

"Why not? You must have slept there sometime."

"Not with a mortal." Moana rolled her eyes.

"I'll be fine." She sat on the edge of the boat and stared at the murky water beneath her, not daring to drop her legs to the surface. "It's pretty imposing ."

"Hmm?"

"This, a few meters below, there are monstrous creatures that have remained in the legends and traditions of my people for generations. They are there. It's frightening."

"And you still want to go down?"

"Yes, fear has never stopped me."

"You came here to find me?" Moana turned to face him and looked at him thoughtfully.

"I didn’t think you'd want to go back. We had a hard time the last time we were here.

"You're coming back."

"Obviously," she got up, pulling a banana skin off Pua. "I will not let you go down alone."

They both gave each other a warm complicit smile and she turned toward the mountain.

"Well, let's take a run to see who goes up first."

She hadn’t finished speaking when she heard a creak behind her, wrapping everything in an electric blue for a few seconds.

"Completely agree. Chaahooooo!" croaked the great bird with feathers shaken with bravado.

"Hey! That's cheating."

Before she could move the animal opened its wings and took flight. In a more than rehearsed movement the hawk descended upon her and seized her with its powerful claws. Moana's scream was heard all over the island as Maui lifted her flying to the top of the mountain while Pua watched helplessly from the boat.

Once they landed, Maui turned to a human with a huge laugh.

"That was not funny!"

"I thought so," he said, leaning on his hook and looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Not at all! I could have died!" Maui rolled his eyes and gestured to the floor with his thumb.

"You understand we're going to Lalotai, right?"

"What does that have to do with you throwing me off a mountain?"

"First; I was not going to drop you. Second; Lalotai is a sure death. And third..."

"I'm going to die of old age before you finish." She crossed her arms with a bored grimace. Maui stopped short.

"As you like. I already warned you" he left the hook to one side and cleared his throat before starting with the haka, making a strong leap at the end to fall hard into the mouth of the cave causing it to open with a creak. When it was completely open he grabbed the hook and looked down. "You remember this part, right?"

"Now we jump," she said.

"Correct" with a loud jolt and a shout of joy disappeared through the hollow of the mouth. "Do not be late" she listening as he fell.

"Well, Moana, it's now or never," she told herself. She still remembered the terrible experience of the last time; Falling to certain death; Almost devoured by a giant creature, attacked by a strange mammal and finally attacked, almost devoured and killed by a huge egocentric crustacean. But this time she would be sure. This time Maui had his hook and if they had to flee they knew a quick way to make a hasty escape if any danger arose. They had faced Te Kā, there would be nothing more powerful than that in Lalotai, right?

 

Closing her eyes and clearing her mind, she jumped. The mouth of the cave sealed seconds later, leaving her in that violet vortex that carried her out into the depths of the kingdom of the beasts. If she looked carefully she could see the dark shadow of Maui in the fetal position falling several meters ahead of her. Soon the water became clearer and brighter until the silhouette of Maui fell into the void. She would never get accustomed to the sensation of coming out of the water to fall on solid ground. Her mouth opened in a desperate scream as the surface spat her down and swiftly fell to the earth. She stopped screaming suddenly as her body slammed into another body softly instead of against the hard muddy ground. She looked up and met the demigod looking at her with a sardonic smile.

"All right, princess?" She clucked her tongue and twisted in his arms to let her lay on the floor.

"Don’t call me a princess, my name is Moana," she repeated once again, turning her head so quickly that her hair hit her face, frustrating her more. Maui laughed softly.

"Don’t be offended, you know I was just joking." He shrugged, raising his eyebrows with a smile. Moana deflated.

"Yes, I know..." she sighed. "Thanks for picking me up".

"You're welcome." He winked and began to walk. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

It was curious to be able to take the time to look at the new world she was rediscovering. Her first time had been mostly surviving the few minutes she was alone but now? There had been more than one creature's attempt to approach they were guided by the noise, the smell, and the hope of a good meal. But all that hope had disappeared when they saw her huge bodyguard with the magic hook. They had run screaming and literally with their tails between their legs and head down so as to avoid being seen, being beaten or displaying any aggressive attitude towards the visitors. It was more than obvious that Maui was well known all over the place. His patience had been more than infinite as well. Moana had been entertained by every new tree, shrub, or bush, totally absorbed in vegetation and a possible source of new food. Maui had remained behind, simply attentive to any danger and letting her enjoy all that was new and alerting her not to put anything to her mouth because he did not know if the fruit would negatively affect humans.

They soon saw in the distance a great edifice which he recognized at once.

"It's Tamatoa’s lair," she whispered to him.

"Yes, be careful and don’t go too far," he said seriously. They descended the slope slowly. Beside the road was one of the ugliest flowers Moana had ever seen. Its color was magenta pink very, very alive and its leaves, more than leaves, they looked like tentacles. As it approached it vibrated and dived into the earth like a frightened seaweed. Moana shrieked and jumped back into Maui, who laughed at the situation.

Their laughter faded when they ran into a huge figure right in front of the giant crab’s door. It was surrounded by huge amounts of gold and shiny objects, in addition to what looked like remains of fish and animals that had been brave enough, or stupid, to approach it.

"That's..." Moana said after him. Maui frowned.

"Tamatoa," he drawled in a serious voice.

"Is he... dead?" she stepped out from behind him, approaching a little to the overturned crab. Without waiting for an answer, Maui gave a strong kick to one of his legs. Immediately it shook and began to stir.

"What was that? Who is here?" there was a silky voice, almost alarmed.

Maui and Moana looked at each other; Moana with surprise and Maui with boredom.

"Stop twisting, you useless beast," he circled the crustacean so he could see him from his position.

"You! I thought I made things clear last time" he gritted his teeth. Moana appeared behind Maui.

"We thought you were dead." Tamatoa dropped his jaw down, his eyes wide with astonishment.

"The human!" He pointed with one of the claws. "What are you doing here? Did you bring me a snack?" Tamatoa asked Maui.

"Leave her. She comes with me."

"Oh." With a loving look, he tucked the claws against his cheek before looking disgusted. "It's so beautiful that I want to vomit."

"It's my wife," Maui said suddenly, leaning on the hook. Tamatoa's jaw dropped a second time.

"Your wife?" He looked at Moana with a mixture of aversion and surprise. "How could you put that in your mouth?"

"What?" Moana gave him a dubious look.

"Oh, so you're one of those women who don’t do those things," his eyes turned to Maui. "I'm sorry for you…"

"Look, we had come to help you but if you're going to remain an idiot I'll leave you where you are" Tamatoa suddenly closed his mouth. The demigod took it as a sign of surrender and prepared to push him.

"Wait a moment," Moana said, stepping forward. "You must first promise not to eat us or try anything stupid."

"He can’t help the stupid," Maui replied under the crab. "The rest; he will not. He is not so foolish as to provoke me now that he knows that I have my powers again."

"All the same, I want him to promise. We will not help you until you do." She folded her arms in a defiant attitude. Tamatoa, who had remained with his mouth closed almost without breathing, expelled all the air in his lungs and turned his head with a grunt.

"Your wife is bossy." His eyes moved unlike his body to look at Maui to his right. He shrugged.

"She's right. Although the fact that you promise it does not mean I'll not have an eye on you until we leave. " Realizing the numerical inferiority, the crustacean accepted.

"Okay, okay, if you help me I promise I will not hurt you."

"You will not eat us."

"I will not eat you."

"You will not kill us."

"Oh come on, this is ridiculous already."

"I can’t hear you," she crooned. Tamatoa gasped backward with exasperation.

"Okay, I'll not hurt you, nor eat you, nor will not kill you, nor will I call others to kill you or eat you, not even snore to let you have your beauty sleep, enough?"

Moana put a finger to her cheek looking at him as if meditating. This gradually changed to a smile.

"Enough." Maui, who had already settled almost under the shell, took this as a signal and pushed the crustacean hard until it was able to turn around. For a few moments he stood completely still staring at the horizon, then turned slowly and looked at them. Moana stepped back, ready to run, and Maui gripped the hook ready for any attack. Tamatoa sighed in boredom, complaining.

"I made a promise, why make me promise if you will not believe me?" Moana relaxed visibly. Maui, on the other hand, gripped the hook harder. Tamatoa ignored him, staring at the floor where he rested, scattering all his treasure with a pout. "It will take me days to get it all together again."

"We can help you if you want." Moana came up with a handful of items she'd picked up.

"Ah ah! Don’t touch my things." With one of his giant claws he grabbed her and shook her until everything she carried fell to the floor and dropped her with the demigod. "Look, I'm busy right now, why don't you go for a ride or something? Go and visit the yaya, you have not seen her since you left."

"To who?" Tamatoa ignored her, stepping inside his huge conch. She turned to look at her companion.

Maui sighed.

"He means my grandmother."

"Your grandmother? Is she still alive?

"Of course she's not alive; We are in Lalotai. Her spirit is the guardian of the door, surely she know already that we are here."

"Why has not she come yet?" she shrugged.

"She’ll wait for me to see her, she's a horrible and evil woman." His body shook with a dramatic chill.

"I'm sure she's not that bad. You have had to spend a lot of time without seeing her, it would be a good idea to visit her. Even if it's to get the fumes down" Maui deflated and rolled his eyes.

"Okay, but you stay here and wait for me." He pointed a threatening finger at her, Moana looked at him with a raised eyebrow and arms folded.

"Are you going to leave me alone in Lalotai with a giant crab that tried to eat us?"

"I almost envy you." Moana hit him on the chest. "Okay, okay, you can come... but don’t say anything. Seriously, don’t open your mouth unless she asks you something. Not even then. Don’t speak, understand?"

"It can not be so horri..."

"What was the first rule for me to let you accompany me to the kingdom of monsters?" Moana growled with obfuscation, Mini Maui crossed his arms repeatedly stamping foot, annoyed at the attitude of its carrier. "I didn’t hear you” Maui put a finger to his ear pulling back his hair, bending over and turning his head ready to hear her next words.

"I would obey you," she said monotonously.

"And to speak when I have commanded you not to do it is to obey me?"

"No."

"And if I tell you to shut up and don’t open your mouth, what will you do?"

"Have you had enough?"

"I never have enough. Well?"

"I'll be quiet, I will not speak, and I'll try to be part of the scenery." Maui sat up with a smile.

"Good princess, that last one was not in the list but you have been creative. I like it."

She gasped again in disgust and turned to start walking toward the road with her shoulders tense and hands in fists at her sides with her face in a disgruntled grimace. Maui snatched the hook from the floor where he had spiked it and ran after her with a triumphant smile.

 

* * *

 

"Maui," she whispered after continuing silently along the winding paths. Her mind had taken advantage of the calm to fill with ideas and thoughts that now could not get out of her head and did not know who else to ask.

"Hm?"

“When people... _leave_... do they come to Lalotai?” Maui looked at her, knowing that this was a sensitive subject.

”Not all, is a site of monsters and creatures” Moana did not respond and after a few seconds he was impatient with curiosity ”Are you looking for someone in particular?”

She turned her face away, if it was because she found the question annoying or very personal he couldn’t say it. She took her time to reply.

"Your grandmother... she ... went away" she looked at him "but she's here in Lalotai."

"It's because she's a monster," he snorted. Moana smiled slightly before returning to the point.

“My grandmother _left_ too, before I met you. She was reincarnated as a stingray but I have not seen her for a long time. I miss her but I don’t know where to find her."

"Her spirit is in you," he said wisely. "You will find her wherever you are when you need her most. It is your heart that calls her and draws her to you. Just call her."

"I've done it," she defended herself, "I've done it many times but she never came. I waited for her on the shore and in the lagoon but she never came back."

"Maybe you weren't looking for her," he said simply, "maybe your heart was calling someone else."

Maui continued walking happily without realizing that Moana had slowed her pace and was still shaking and several feet behind with her gaze fixed on her feet. For all these months she had been on the edge of the beach glimpsing the horizon in search of a familiar silhouette. But she had been looking up at the sky, not at the sea. She had always wanted her grandmother to be at her side so that she could talk about all the feelings that filled her, to ask for advice, wisdom and a sensible opinion. A hug and a kiss on the forehead, a ‘ _I love you, Moana_ ’ and a ‘ _be strong, my girl_ ’, a reason to be able to return the next day to the sea to return to contemplate an empty sky waiting for a friend who was not going to return. All her soul had called her grandmother; But her heart was screaming for Maui.

"Curly? Hey!" She blinked repeatedly looking around until she saw Maui waving her hand in front of her.

"I'm sorry, I was just thinking..."

"Easy, don’t hurt yourself. I just wanted to tell you that we've arrived." He pointed to an enormous rock formation that saw an illuminated hollow sinking into the rock. Without waiting for an answer, Maui galloped toward the cave, calling for his grandmother.

"That boy is more blind every day," said a voice at her side. She shrugged her shoulders.

"If I can tell you, you do not know what it cost me... " Moana shouted as she realized that someone was really talking to her and that, turning to look at that person, it was a vaporous spirit.

"Easy, easy, it is not necessary that you scream like that..."

"Moana!" Shouted Maui, emerging from the cave with his face blank, stopped abruptly skidding on the floor a few inches. "Grandma!"

"Maui, treasure, come here and let grandma see you!" The spirit flew toward him and drew him into an impressive embrace. The old woman was big and large, large enough to cover the demigod completely in her arms. After a few minutes of loud kisses and groans of pain she let her grandson go. Maui leaned on the hook to keep from falling to the ground. "Hello to you too, little demon" she said with a finger to the little Mini Maui who greeted her cheerfully. "How old you are! It's been so long since you've come to see your grandmother. And who is this beautiful girl? My dear new granddaughter? She is very beautiful. I would have liked to meet her mother first" she approached Moana to examine her from top to bottom, circling around her. "One moment, she’s a human!, how could you have a human daughter?"

"I'm not his daughter, I'm his..."

"Friend!" Maui interrupted her by standing between them with a fake smile, biting his lip. "She's a good friend, Grandma. She helped me retrieve my hook."

"Hmm, I heard about that, I do not know how you managed to steal Te Fiti's heart, lose the magic hook and almost destroy the world." She raised her hands dramatically, but then she calmed down and looked at Moana. "I'm glad you had someone with a head on their shoulders to help you."

"I have a head," he said, offended.

"If you would only use it for something other than a place to put your hair," the demigod's attitude changed to an offended one and sank his shoulders. His grandmother ignored him and passed by his side to address the girl: "Well, girl, what should I call you?"

Moana looked at Maui carefully but saw no sign said:

"I'm Moana of Motunui, delighted to meet you, mistress..." the old woman laughed and shook her hand.

"Don’t call me that, it makes me feel older. Call me grandma."

"Grandma," Moana smiled and the woman put her arm around her shoulders.

"Okay, now let's go inside. It is not very big but you can spend some time with me and have something to snack and rest."

Without waiting for a response from the demigod, they both entered the cave followed by Maui.

"Tell me how did you meet?" asked the grandmother once settled in the narrow cave. It was a small, damp space dug into the rock. There was only a small empty oven and a pair of dusty seats on the floor. Moana supposed that she didn’t need to sleep or eat, hence the austerity of her home. She looked at Maui for an answer.

"She found me on the island where I was trapped."

"Is that so? I thought that mortals had ceased to sail the seas hundreds of years ago" pouring a viscous violet liquid into a coconut in front of them.

"The ocean chose her, or something like that." Before Moana had time to bring the drink to her lips, Maui hurled himself for her and grabbed the coconut away from her mouth.

"Oh, foolish of me. He is right, my dear, don’t eat anything from Lalotai. Sorry, memory is the first casualty of age."

"Don’t worry, I should have known."

"I feel bad not being able to serve you anything to eat. You must be hungry."

"We will not stay long and we have a canoe full of food on the surface," Maui said dismissively.

"If so, it's all right... I'm glad you took some time to come and see me."

"Does not Maui come to see you?" Moana asked, feeling the demigod twist his head sharply to look at her. She ignored the fact that she was not paying attention to their first rule about not talking to the woman.

"He's a free spirit. Sometimes he comes to see his friend the crab, but after they fought he stopped coming.

"Do you know Tamatoa?"

The old woman laughed.

"Of course I know him, since he was this big!" she put her index finger and thumb very close to each other "when my grandson found him on the beach. They became friends instantly. A pity that he ended up being a little jungle know-it-all. If I had known, I would have eaten him."

"I think the feeling is mutual," Maui murmured under his breath. Moana hit him on the shoulder. The old woman chuckled and sat down beside him.

"Now, tell me about your adventure. I want to hear everything from the beginning."

  

When the story was over, the darkness had already reached Lalotai. Maui was more comfortable with the situation and spoke openly of them between laughter and jokes, but Moana could not help but notice that Maui had not said a single word of their personal relationship and she had not added anything that could annoy him.

"It is very late," said the old woman, once they left the cave to say good-bye. "I'm sorry for keeping you so long."

"I had a wonderful time." Moana dismissed her.

"I'm so glad, my dear. I hope you can persuade my grandson's big head to come and see me more often."

"I will do what I can."

"I'm here, you know that, right?" Both women ignored him and gave each other a big hug.

"Take good care of my boy, will you?" she whispered in her ear, Moana promised.

When they parted, the grandmother flew to Maui and squeezed him again in her arms despite his moans of pain. Moana and Maui left with a final farewell, disappearing slowly in the irregular horizon of Lalotai.

"It's too late to get out," Maui murmured, looking at the waters framing the landscape.

"What do you propose?" he bent down and pulled out a bush of fluffy leaves.

"I propose to go back to the sea slug and spend the night there. It is not the safest place but we will be free from vermin and predators.

"Do you think he'll agree?"

"I doubt it, but he owes us one."

"Have you forgotten that we were the ones that we left him lying on his back for years?"

"He tried to eat me! He stole my hook!"

"He found it lying in the ocean. Besides you kicked his leg out" she came forward signalling the conversation was over.

"I should have kicked more than his leg," he murmured under his breath before running after her. Mini Maui put his hands to his mouth to hide a muffled laugh.

"Why didn’t you tell your grandmother the truth?" Moana asked after a long time, and both of them had walked a long way, and Maui had been entertaining himself by picking up leaves and moss for their bed.

"Hm?"

"You know, about me, about us. I'm not just your friend."

Maui huffed.

"Why you hate me?"

"What? I do not hate you!"

"Do you want me to tell my grandmother that I'm in a fake marriage with a human girl? Oh yes, you hate me."

"I'm not a girl."

Maui rolled his eyes.

"Okay, I'm in a false marriage with a human. She wants me to tell my grandmother about that," he said to his tattoo, Mini Maui acted as if he screamed and began to run in circles, putting his hands to his head. "That's what I think."

"What's wrong with it?"

"Grandmother has been demanding for three thousand years for me to sit down and have children, the last thing she needs is this."

"Hey!" Moana cried out in agony, standing in front of him. "It's the rudest thing I've ever heard."

"Why is this my fault?"

"To start this was your idea..."

"Do not start with that shit, Moana," he said threateningly.

"I do not understand! Why don't you tell her? Are you ashamed of me?"

Maui snapped.

"No, I'm ashamed of myself!" He shouted in her face. Moana staggered back. Mini Maui ran to hide behind a huge island, peeking over the edge. Without another word, she turned and ran.

"Moana!" Maui shouted in despair.

Fight or not they were still in Lalotai. He dropped all the leaves he was carrying and ran up the hill to see where she had gone. After a few seconds of searching the landscape, he could see her between the lushness of the landscape, walking up to the giant shell of Tamatoa. The crab was not in sight, he supposed he would be inside. He took a step forward ready to go after her but mini Maui stopped him and pointed another direction. He looked up to see the crab's lair again, not knowing if it was a good idea to leave Moana alone with him. He turned around with a grunt to return to where he had come with the promise of slowly and painfully dismembering the crustacean if she was minimally injured.

 

 

"Shiny," he hummed for sixteenth time, placing another handful of bright objects on his shell. "I'm very... hey!" Tamatoa screamed as he saw the girl running between his legs and through the room to the wall at the other end where she sat leaning against the stony surface. He raised an eyebrow and looked towards the entrance hole waiting for his second guest but Maui never appeared. He narrowed his eyes at her and shrugged dramatically.

"What did he do this time?"

"As if you cared."

"You're right, I don’t care." He turned with a shrug.

"Be an asshole," came the quick response from the corner.

"Yes, that is in general. I meant particularly this time."

"He doesn’t want to tell his grandmother that he's married to me because he's ashamed," she growled, dazed.

"That's very wise." Moana lifted her head from her arms to give him a hard look.

"Why, is it because I'm human?"

"That's a part; You do not live long, you are selfish, proud, tedious, bitter, dirty... "he said in a bored tone.

"It’s ok! Enough, I understand that is a nuisance that I’m human. But it's not bad that he's married to me. He keeps repeating that his grandmother wants him to have children, I don’t even know if I want children. I'm only nineteen years old. Maybe in a while you want children, and then what will he tell his grandmother? ' _I had them with that friend you met the other time'_?"

Tamatoa burst out laughing. Moana bristled with anger but this did not stop the crustacean from continuing to laugh. After a few minutes an imaginary tear dried off and looked at her.

"Have you finished?"

"I doubt it, but the little demi-mini-god has a point."

"What?" She shouted, clenching her fists. Tamatoa leaned on the floor as if he had sat down and pointed her with a pincer.

"Don’t be offended, baby, you're cute to be human, but you're still human. I've known that old woman long enough to know that all she wants in this life... death? whatever, is to have the opportunity to play with another puppy with sticky fingers and a runny nose. "He looked disgusted. "And you, human, you can not give them that."

Moana raised an eyebrow and Tamatoa sighed in exasperation. "Everyone knows that humans and demigods can’t reproduce."

"Huh?" She looked at him in surprise.

"You did not know it?" He rolled his eyes. "What do they teach you now in schools? No, doll, no, how many children do you think that gross hollow head would have? he has had millennia to populate half the islands that he has taken out of the sea. He has tried and failed many, many times. It's impossible. "He shrugged and stood up to continue gathering his treasure in a pile so he could carry it to his shell. “Humans and demigods are not meant to be together.”

"We can’t have children?" she said hollowly.

"Is not it fantastic?" He looked over his shell and clicked his tongue. "You have all your life to have fun without having to worry about kids. I envy you. He is a brute with a hollow head but at least it will be fun.” He pointed with the clamp. "But i don't want details, I do not want to throw up the little food that I have managed to fish today."

"What?"  she looked at him, not knowing what he was talking about.

"Have you fused your brain? You know! Party! Bow chicka bow bow... " he moved suggestively.

"I do not follow you," Tamatoa sighed, rolling his eyes.

"I see that. I’m speaking about sex, you are married, you had to consummate it on the wedding night. At least you had to feel something."

"There was no wedding night. It was a fake marriage" she shrank back for a few seconds, embarrassed.

"What?" His jaw dropped several meters. Moana shrugged and walked to the mountain of treasures, picking up a pair of cups along the way to pile them up in the pile.

"I'm the boss's daughter and my parents wanted me to get married. I did not want to and I asked Maui for help, it's the only idea that came to his mind. We did not speak for two years." She brushed her hair back from behind her ear. "It's been a strange first marriage year."

"You had been two years without seeing him but you married a year ago? Did you marry by messenger seagull or what?"

"What?"

"Forget it." He rolled his eyes. "You were able to resolve your differences on the wedding night."

"I have already told you; we did not have. We pretend to please the people. He cut off his hand for blood and everything... he has never touched me in any way."

"He cut his hand?"

"Yeah, the palm, he has a scar and everything. I told him I could have done it, I would not have minded, but he did not want to."

Tamatoa was silent for a few seconds.

"I don’t know if we should stop talking about this, I'm starting to feel something like respect for that idiot." Moana looked at him blankly. "Let's see how I explain this ... a ‘ _no_ ’ is a no; a ‘ _maybe_ ’ is a no; a ‘ _whatever you want_ ’ is a no; a ‘ _I don’t mind_ ’ is a no. No matter what you felt at that moment, if your answer was not a ‘Y _es, please, Maui, do it to me against that rock_ ’” he said putting his big eyes with bulky lashes for a few seconds pointing to a stone in a corner, "is a no. That demi-mini-god can be many things but he has never hurt a human" he thought for a few seconds "meaning it, he never hurt a human meaning it. He’s a little crude, as I said at the beginning of our conversation."

"What has that rock to do with anything?" Tamatoa deflated.

"The rock is a metaphor, babe."

"Metaphor of what?"

"You will not tell me that they have not told you how children are made because then it is when I leave you here and I go."

"Well" she caressed the arm embarrassed "I have been told the story of the eel that spits, if that is what you mean...."

"The eel that what?" He asked incredulously, his antennae trembling as he realized it, and turned to turn away. "This conversation is over. I will not go through human reproduction, I still have my own love, thank you."

Both began to work together piling the treasure on the pile so that he would raise it with his tongs.

"He should have told me."

"About?" He said absently.

"About the children. I would have understood why he did not want to tell Grandma."

Tamatoa was silent for a few moments.

"For someone like him maybe it's a difficult subject. Perhaps it was one of the reasons he yearned for Te Fiti's heart."

"I thought he did that for humans..."

"Sure, it's a freak of humans, without hesitation. But he also made me think that maybe he wanted to use it himself first. He has lived more than five thousand years and has spent all that time surrounded by humans. His family history is not the best so he may have some family complex. "Moana lowered her head in dismay.

"I did not know you knew the story of... you know, his family."

"Oh yes, in a moment we were great friends." He turned to her and with one of his tweezers pushed her back. Moana staggered in shock and fell with a gasp into a small boat. Without warning Tamatoa took the boat with it’s cargo and put it on his shell. "Maybe you can help me from there."

Moana nodded and got off the boat, falling on the gold surface. She began to take items from the boat and scatter them around the place.

"And what happened?"

"When?"

"You said you were great friends."

"Yes, we were. He picked me up from the beach when I was barely out of the egg... "he sighed wistfully. "I was so envious of his tattoos. We try once to paint them in my shell but the coal dissolves quickly in the water. Bright things are better."

"And?"

The crustacean sighed.

"You're not gonna let it go, are you?" He grunted at the young woman's raised eyebrow." He preferred to stay with humans. I never understood, if you ask me. Sometimes he came to see me, but then he stopped appearing... I was angry and decided to go and get him. He was on an island west of here with a woman with a silly smile and a shrill voice," he made a gesture of displeasure. "I could not believe that he would have replaced me so easily, I felt so hurt and so betrayed, why choose humans above me?"

His antennae fell down, imitating his taciturn attitude.

"I was so angry that I attacked the island and... I woke up in Lalotai. I did not see him again until you came back for his hook." He looked into her eyes. "I do not think we can forgive what happened."

Moana knelt and caressed the golden surface, looking hurt.

"It's understandable to do stupid things when we feel alone. He must have found time for you and you should understand that he needed something more."

"Something like what?"

"Love? A family?" Tamatoa smiled devilishly.

"That's why your situation amuses me so much. A false marriage to a human girl who can not give him a family" Moana crawled back at the smile. The last time the crab had smiled like that, they were almost killed.

"At last I found you" - a ghostly form materialized in front of her. Tamatoa screamed and buried his head in his body. Moana jumped.

"Grandma!"

"Hello again," the old woman smiled.

"Eh, eh!" Tamatoa's eyes peered out of his shell." You know the rules get out of here!"

"Oh shut up, you stupid animal. I just came to welcome my little girl to our family. "Moana responded to the a surprise hug.

"How…?" The question began as they parted.

"I just said goodbye to my dear grandson who came to explain everything to me. By his attitude and the fact that he came alone I could understand that you were annoyed by his decision."

"He went to talk to you?" She lowered her head regretfully, the old woman stroked her cheek and raised her face to look at her.

"Human, demigod, demon, creature... whatever you are and live the time you live; Make he remember every moment. When someone life almost always the only thing left is their memories. Make them worthwhile."

"But it's an arranged marriage... and the children...."

"Marriage arranged or not, Maui has never brought anyone to see me, apart from this disgusting insect." Tamatoa hissed at the insult, but dared not look any further. "And much less someone who considers a friend. He came to talk to me; Not because he wanted to, but because it was important to you."

"I do not know what to say…"

"Do not say anything, sometimes it's not necessary. The one who has to speak his mind is he and you must learn to listen, as I have been told. "Moana gave her a shy smile and she winked. "Do not let your differences divide you, make your strengths and unite them so that they match your weaknesses. That way you will be unstoppable."

Moana nodded, her throat tight.

"And take care of him. I know he thinks he does not need it but he's wrong more than he seems."

"I will," she promised.

"I like it that way. I hope we can see each other again in the future. "Grandma leaned close to her, closing her eyes, Moana straightened up enough so that her foreheads and noses collided. When she opened her eyes she was gone.

"What just happened?" Tamatoa asked, shaking his head. Moana remained silent until her breathing regulated and said quietly:

"I think she has given me her blessing ..."

"Well, congratulations, I suppose." The smile spread across her face and she looked at him with joy.

"Thank you."

At that moment Maui entered through the hole of the shell with a pile of leaves under his arm. He passed beneath Tamatoa’s legs and climbed a sandy slope to what was supposed to be a second floor, level with the crustacean's eyes. Moana approached the edge of the shell and the huge crab brought one of his pincers up so that she would hang and be able to reach him. Once her feet touched the ground she ran up to him and hugged him. Maui was petrified by the gesture but responded to the embrace with affection once he recovered from the surprise.

"Grandma came to see me," she whispered into his ear, her arms wrapping around his neck. Mini Maui gave her a thumbs up and she smiled at him, raised her head and looked at the demigod. "Thank you, Maui."

He smiled sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders timidly.

"You're welcome."

"Oh please, don’t sing."

They both turned to see Tamatoa staring at the scene with boredom.

"Do you know the song?" Moana laughed.

"if I know it? Do you know how much he has sung it to learn that ridiculous rap? And how many times does he name me? Zero" he crossed the pincers with a grimace. Moana and Maui looked at each other with a knowing smile. Then the demigod knelt to one side and began to put leaves and plants in a small hole to one side of the sand terrace.

"We can’t light a fire here, but I don’t think you’ll get cold," he whispered softly. Moana knelt beside him to help him. He had gone to a lot of trouble for her. When they finished she lay on her side in the small improvised bed. Maui sat down next to her leaning his back against the wall, Moana tapped to use her leg as a pillow. This kind of intimacy between them was new and inexperienced, but welcome.

"Tamatoa and I have been talking," Maui hummed to indicate that he was listening. "He explained why you didn’t want Grandma to know... you know."

"Our commitment."

"Yes, that... I... I didn’t know that humans and demigods could not have children." Maui looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Nor is it very important. It's something I assimilated many centuries ago."

"What do you mean it's not important? Have not you wanted...? You know... " his sigh was heard throughout the cave.

"No, I had not thought of that. My presence in your life was only going to last as long as you wanted and as you wanted. I married you to give you a chance to decide, it never occurred to me that you could choose me. At some point in your life, on your island or on your travels, you will find someone and you will want to start a family. I wanted to give you that chance, do not take it away."

Moana turned to face him.

"Why would you do that? What happens with you?"

"I'm Maui, my duty is to make you happy. I am more than happy to have married you if you get a better life. A life like you want to live it. I lost hope of having a family long ago, you need not worry about me" he unconsciously stroked a lock of her hair, rubbing the dark strands between his fingers.

"You are part of my family, Maui, and I can never thank you for what you have done for me."

He shrugged.

"You do not have to thank me for anything. If I had to choose a person among all mortals, I would marry you again."

Moana laughed.

"You are the worst."

"I'm Maui." He winked at her with his index finger and clucking his tongue noisily.

They enjoyed a few moments in silence where Maui indulged in combing her unruly hair and running his fingers between her curls absentmindedly.

"Tamatoa also told me why you fought." Maui snorted. "I'm not going to put myself on anyone's side. He is a frightening and cannibal shrew who enjoys the suffering of others ... but you have spent hundreds of years angry because you have not talked about what happened."

"What do you want? Shall I give him another speech? Was not it enough that I told the truth to Grandma?" He began to exhale, gesturing with his arms. In any other situation, Moana would have changed the subject and left the matter aside but it was obvious that Maui was struggling to hide something.

"Why did you want to come to Lalotai, Maui?"  she interrupted.

"I just wanted to come."

"It is hard to separate from friends and more when there is a complicated situation in between. You should talk to him."

Maui threw his head back until he hit the rock. He repeated the action several times, thoughtfully, until finally he looked down at her.

"Do you really think so?"

"Yes, I think he missed you too," she shrugged, "in his own way."

Moana lifted her head to leave him room to rise. Maui took some time, re-thinking, but finally stood up.

"Well... I guess we'll see each other in a little while..." he said doubtfully.

"Go, I'll try to sleep. It's too late already" he nodded.

"Goodnight, Moana," he turned.

"Maui" she called him quickly. He paused to look over his shoulder. "Leave the hook with me."

"What?"

"I know you, I want a peaceful discussion. Give it to me."

Maui snapped his tongue and left the hook next to her. Moana, with her eyes closed, hugged the bone and drew it to her.

"Good night, Maui."

Maui imitated her mockingly and pulling faces as he jumped down just in front of the rocky formation that formed Tamatoa hidden in his shell. Surely feigning sleep to devour them in their sleep. He sighed, bracing himself for the moment, and gently kicked the golden surface. The enormous buried figure soon resurfaced responding to his mute call.

 

* * *

 

She stirred in her bed of leaves trying to return to sleep, but a series of roaring snores finally woke her up. She yawned loudly and sat up, looking around. She was alone and the hook was next to her.

"Maui?” she was alarmed. She stood up and ran to the edge to see the rest of the cave. The mountain that formed the body of Tamatoa was half buried and a very asleep Maui was leaning in the hole that formed the hidden head of the crab. Moana smiled and decided to go down to meet them. She had to climb one of the huge claws to reach him as Tamatoa had wrapped them in a circle with his other appendages. She reached Maui and knelt in front of him. She had never seen him sleep, and she had to admit that it was not as she expected; The demigod slept soundly with his head back at a possibly painful angle and his mouth open, letting out a snore that looked more like thunder. She put a hand to her mouth to hide her smile. She watched him sleep for endless minutes, barely had a chance to look at him like this when he was awake. Now she could take advantage of his tattoos and details of the ink of his body. Mini Moana was totally still in her eternal greeting and Mini Maui held the sky with his hands. She thought she saw him blink, but she thought it might have been her imagination. These weeks together she had enjoyed herself so much. Not only to be able to be in her beloved sea and to quench her thirst for adventure. But by her beloved new travel companion. With the news of her wedding and her growing responsibilities, she believed she had lost this forever, but now? Now it was clear that Maui was not going to be a chain that would tie her to the island but the wind blowing her sails. He had been, is and would always be, a fundamental part of her travels and her life. Those two years without seeing him had hurt like an open wound every second and, although she always believed that it was because she had hurt her friend, she had noticed that what was hurting him was his lack in his day to day. His smile, his songs, his jokes, his support, his fights and stupidities. She had missed everything. His good humor had diminished leaving her in an empty, melancholy state. She stood up and took a couple of steps to reach him, bent slightly and shook his shoulder gently.

"Wakey, wakey," she said with a smile. Maui complained loudly writhing on the spot. She laughed softly. "Maui, get up. It's already daylight."

"Huh?" He looked around, his eyes numb and narrowed until they focused on her. "Moana?"

"It's daylight, we have to go."

"Ya... yes ..." he yawned and rubbed his face. "Where is my hook?"

"Where you left it, I can not carry it."

"Hmm." He nodded with a grunt. He stood up, placing his hands on his hips and bending his back and head back until it creaked. "Ugh, it's been a bad sleeping position."

He jumped one of Tamatoa's claws and got lost in the cave on his way to retrieve his beloved magic hook.

Moana watched him leave with a smile and shook her head. Something caught her gaze and turned to meet Tamatoa face to face. Unable to help it, she jumped back with a scream.

"Good morning to you too," he said, bored.

"I'm sorry, I was distracted."

"Yes, I noticed" he wiggled his eyebrows together. Moana opened and closed her mouth at the insinuation.

"Not like that," she exclaimed.

"You're married, it's not illegal for you to look at the goods," he winked.

"You're impossible!" she cried, her face totally red from embarrassment.

"Leave the fights for another time, we're in a hurry," said Maui, reappearing with his hook.

"Are you leaving? so soon?" Maui leaned on his hook.

"Don’t worry, I'll come and see you."

"I'm dying of anticipation," he said with boredom. Maui shook his head and let out a laugh as he banged his fist against the clamp again and again before walking away toward the hole in the shell.

"See you soon."

"I'm glad you fixed your differences." Tamatoa lowered his head to find Moana smiling at him with her hands on her hips.

"That will take years." He jerked his head away, but his eyes returned to her. "But it has not been a bad start."

They both shared a smile.

"For a human... you're not so bad."

"That almost sounded like a compliment."

"Yes, it is true, you'd better go before we regret all this."

"I'll come and visit you," she urged as she ran after Maui.

If Tamatoa responded it got lost in the distance.

 

"What took you so long?, I was about to come looking for you," said Maui, standing in the middle of the road with the hook on his shoulder.

"I was saying goodbye to Tamatoa. Were things okay yesterday?" Maui shrugged with a ‘ _meh_ ’. Moana did not insist. "Where do we go? There was one of those water pipes in front of the lair."

"I do not think I'm going to use one of those again if I can help it." With one movement he lifted the hook and transformed into an eagle.

"I like this solution even less." The animal rolled his eyes and crouched in front of her. "What? You want me to…?"

"Come on, it'll be fun."

"I do not know if it's a good idea" Maui imitated a chicken and Moana inflated her chest. With a determined grin she jumped and threw a leg over his wings.

"Ready?" Moana squirmed, moving her hips for a better position.

"I think so."

"Well, hold on tight." She anchored her ankles at his sides and clung desperately to his neck.

She gasped as Maui extended his towering wings and with a pair of flutters took the flight up at a great speed to the oceanic sky. As they approached her heart began to throb with more force in her ears and her breathing stirred in panicked gasps.

"Whoa!" she shouted, her knees trembling at the sides of the eagle crashing into his ribs. When she saw the water only a few feet away, she closed her eyes and buried her head in the feathers. The cold sensation seized her as the water engulfed them. Soon she heard the click of Maui's shifting and a smooth surface pushed her up quickly. A few seconds later they came out of the water with a splash. Moana opened her mouth, sucking hard. Beside her the shark became human again shaking his head to pull the hair away from his face.

Immediately the sea grabbed them and dragged them to the shore gently. Maui got up first when he reached the shore and grabbed her arm to help her to sit up.

"You're good?"

"That was," she gasped, catching her breath, looked at him with wide-eyed, surprised eyes. "That was incredible!"

She jumped on the spot with excitement.

"I was nervous, but it was incredible. I loved it! I understand why you love flying so much. It's magic, can we do it again?" She looked up at him in ecstasy. Maui raised an eyebrow and laughed.

"Sure, anytime," he winked at her. Moana leaped for joy. She had been frightened, she was frightened, but those flying seconds had been one of the most exciting things she had ever experienced.

"Where do we go now?" she asked on the way to the canoe.

"Now," he said, "I'll take you home."

 

**TO BE CONTINUED....**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Appearing in this chapter is Maui's grandmother Hina, ( Official Artbook of Moana, drawn by Bill Schwab.) I liked both the character and the idea, so I had to add it.](https://68.media.tumblr.com/df1c2136ded443754622c5016a7a940f/tumblr_inline_omjvg5zYxo1r7da56_540.png)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to my kiwi brother **J.** Months ago I decided to get a tattoo the next time I visited my husband and my brother in NZ and he gave me a lot of links and information that has helped me a lot for this chapter. Hope you like it, thanks, big bro!
> 
> This may be the longest chapter of all, the next one will be shorter. Read the final notes for references, sources and information.

Moana kicked the coconut that had just fallen from the tree and it fell neatly into the basket in her arms. She left it next to the group responsible for cleaning and repairing the nets and left for the beach to inspect the fishing from the morning. The canoes hadn’t yet returned from the sea, she could see the sails in the distance on the horizon. She sat on the sand enjoying the sea breeze and took off the wreath, caressing petals absently with her fingers. Pua sat down with her, a constant presence in her life. He had gone from a little shy pig to a great specimen in these long years but she had barely seen the difference as they shared their days.

Her father had met her three days after she arrived from her last trip with Maui, her adventure at Lalotai. They had talked about his intentions to retire to give her command as the official head of Motunui. Of course, with her well-deserved breaks for future adventures in which Tui would take care of everything in her absence, absences that, Moana supposed, would get shorter as the years went by until she was finally able to travel only in specific situations and possibly with part of her people in search of a new home. But for this she would have to start fulfilling the traditions for such a social level and that involved the dreaded and painful _malu_ . She had spent the last weeks thinking about motives and meanings, should be a sample from her past, present and future life. A sample of the course that had taken her life. Her father had gone through it, and his father before him and so in a long dynasty of chiefs. She didn’t want to be the first _telefua_ in her family.

She reached for her pendant and pulled out the small hook, looking at the details carefully. It wasn’t necessary to; she had learned every engraving years ago but she felt comfortable and at peace each time she took time to admire the work of her friend.

"I'll ask my parents to be my _solo_ ," she said to Pua, the pig looked at her understandably. "I hope you're there too with me." He nodded in agreement.

The canoes arrived ashore an hour later and Moana checked the status of the fishing and spoke with the fishermen. Now that the magic of Maui was taking care of the island was a little ridiculous to do it but still wanted to take her role as chief of the island seriously and continue to sharpen her duties as head of the tribe.

Once she returned to her tent she went to his trunk where she kept all her drawings and prints and took out a charcoal. She worked until her eyes closed with sleep with Pua beside her.

 

* * *

 

"It's not that they aren’t nice..." said the _tufuga ta tatau_ , looking at the designs Moana had taught him.

"What is the problem?"

"It's more of a _pe’a_ design than of _malu_ , Moana." He pointed to the dark parts of the drawing. "The _malu_ are softer and have less detail. This is too much for a young girl."

"Alepati, I know you're the best tattoo artist on the island, and I totally trust you... but I really want this design." She leaned closer to him and pointed to the paper. "I want these prints on my hips, make it as if the sun was setting."

"And what do these marks represent?"

"They are wings, there is a huge bird flying. This second row will appear the island, which represents Motunui, in my legs I want the sea. This is the tide of the north, " she said with the finger on the paper," this is the island that is a day from here, next to the strip of corals. This is the reef."

"Do you know how much these details are going to hurt?"

"That's secondary. I've thought about these designs a lot, that's what I want."

"How much is _a lot_?" Moana shrugged.

"A couple of days."

"That's ..." he exclaimed, but she interrupted him.

"Enough, it’s time enough."

The man sighed knowingly that he wasn’t going to change her mind. Yet.

"It will take several weeks to do, I hope you understand."

She nodded.

"I'll start tomorrow." Moana glanced thoughtfully away.

"Can’t we leave it for the day after tomorrow? I have things to finish before I spend so much time tattooing."

"Okay, I'll take care of it personally." Moana smiled happily.

"Thank you."

That same evening she spoke with her parents about his decision to finally make the _malu_ and asked them to be her _solo_. The next morning she called Maui and he appeared on the horizon hours later with his usual good humor, jokes and laughter. Moana didn’t tell him about her intention of getting a tattoo. She only told him that she would be away for a couple of weeks without waiting for him to understand. With a gentle push shoulder-to-shoulder Maui told her that everything was fine and stayed together until dusk. He had scarcely disappeared on the horizon and she was already missing him.

 

* * *

 

The next morning she rose at dawn. The sun had hardly risen on the horizon when she was already at the edge of the sea.

"I know it's been a long time since we met, since I don’t call you..." she whispered, clenching her fists at her side. "But I think of you in every moment, I miss you and I wish I could see you and that you were with me."

She closed her eyes and slipped slowly into the water until the waves caressed her thighs above her skirt. She let the sky sway her mane and the water licked her body. It was then that she noticed the caress in his hand and opened her eyes slowly to see the huge stingray swimming around her lazily. She smiled, closed her eyes again and raised her hands to begin that dance that her grandmother taught her so many years ago. She let the waves guide her body and give her the rhythm. The music of the sea was the one who ran her hands and moved her feet, who sang in her ear and told stories about forgotten legends.

As she made the last movements, she felt the animal's caress again, and with a smile she raised her arms to the sky, moving her wrists one last time before opening her eyes. She was alone. The sun was in front of her, peering out at the line that divided the sky and the sea. She looked around, but any figure that had accompanied her had disappeared. She stroked the surface of the sea and brought the damp palm to her heart. _She was ready_.

 

* * *

 

 

Sina returned with another bowl of clean water and sat down next to Tui who gripped her daughter's hand tightly. With a small clean rag, she dabbed the tears and sweat from her face

"Mom?"

"Shh, I'm back, how is she doing?" she asked Tui.

"Okay, she’s strong."

"It’s not too much? It's been two weeks, how much do you have left to finish?"

"I'm just following the designs she gave me," Alepati said. "I warned her that it was going to be difficult but she insisted."

"I'm right here and I'm fine," Moana complained harshly.

"We're finishing the left leg, then we just have to repeat the same pattern on the right.

"Another two weeks?" This time Moana's voice trembled.

"Maybe three if you want your hips done right." Alepati lifted the cloth over her until the whole leg was uncovered to her hip, covering her modesty with care. Moana groaned again as the needle stuck into her skin.

"You can leave that for another time," his father whispered, patting his hand gently.

"No, I don’t think I have the courage to repeat it in the future if I let it go and I want it finished," they were all silent for a few minutes until Tui spoke again.

"You could at least take a few days off, you're going to get sick if you keep it up."

"No, I want to finish it as soon as possible."

Sina and Tui looked at each other with concern.

"We're done for today." said Alepati long afterwards and doused the cloth in water and wiped swollen skin soaked with ash and blood with care. Moana moaned as the water soothed the irritation of her wounds. Alepati was the best tattoo artist on the island with several apprentices in his charge. His workshop was on a terrace next to his house so that everyone on the island could see how he did his job and the brave ones who had dared to ask for a tattoo.

She gasped as she sat up on her elbows by the brush of the floor mat on her legs. She did not even dare look at herself for fear of seeing the amount of blood covering her. Tui was there immediately to help her to her feet. Sina knelt beside him to tie the skirt in place and avoid incidents. If she hadn’t been so tired and moved Moana would have asked her to drop it and set it on fire. Once settled, Sina got up and left for Tui to help her walk back to her tent. As soon as her thighs were tattooed and raw, Moana gave a gasp and her knees buckled. Tui caught her in time before she fell.

"Are you okay, Moana?" Sina asked, stroking the damp face of her daughter.

"Yeah, yeah... just... let me..." she breathed and inhaled a couple of times trying to calm the burning and squeezed her jaw tightly

"This is ridiculous," Tui mumbled beside her. With a sudden movement he grabbed his daughter in his arms. Sina screamed her name and Moana gasped again in pain. "I'm going to take you to your bed so you can rest, so we'll get there sooner."

"Thank you," Moana whispered against his neck. She did not know if it was the fact that the pain was waning or how tired she was but she fell asleep before she even got home.

 

* * *

 

"Good afternoon, Alepati," Sina said as she reached the store with a coconut full of clean water as she had every day since Moana started the _malu_.

"Good evening, ma'am," he replied, mixing the pigments kneeling in front of the mat waiting for the young woman's arrival.

Sina helped him prepare everything and they talked animatedly about the latest collections and tapestries they had created last spring. When Tui arrived some time later Sina began to worry; Moana was always the first to be there. She got up very early, not caring about the pain of past sessions to complete her morning tasks as a chief so she could have an early lunch and get there early to continue with her tattooing session. Sina and Tui used to arrive later, time that Moana took advantage of to talk with Alepati about the discomfort or ways to relieve some special kind of pain.

"Hasn’t Moana come yet?" Tui asked, looking at Sina with concern.

"No," she replied. "I'll go get her, I'll see if she's in her hut."

"I'll be here for you, don’t worry, okay? She’s only a little late."

Despite Tui's words she couldn't avoid walking agitatedly down below. When she reached her daughter's door she was breathing hard. Moana had lived all her life in the family home but once she got married they set up another for her and Maui. They missed her, but they knew her daughter needed a place of her own and her parents' house was getting small.

"Moana?" She asked out loud. There was no answer. "Moana, it's your mother, I'm coming in."

She pushed the tapestry out of the door and peeked out as she saw her daughter lying on her bed with Pua sitting beside her. The pig looked at her and got up leaving a gap next to her daughter. Sina knelt beside her and touched her wet forehead.

"Oh Moana," she gasped, got to his feet, and ran out of the tent.

 

"It's just a little fever," said the healer. "It is normal to fall back on such occasions. She just needs to rest and take it easy."

"And there's nothing we can do?" Sina asked at the bed, stroking her daughter's hair.

"I can prepare some remedies but it will only be so that it doesn’t get worse. If you want her to recover, she should rest."

"Thank you so much for coming so fast." Tui inclined his head gratefully.

"I'm sorry I can’t do more. I will prepare the remedy and I will be here as soon as I can."

"Thank you very much," Sina said before he left. Tui knelt beside her and stroked her daughter's hand a few moments before looking at his wife.

"I'm going to talk to Alepati to stop this."

"No, dad." Moana whispered from the bed.

"Moana, this is ridiculous. No one is going to degrade you for not having finished your tattoo, you are making a _pe'a_ not a _malu_. It's too much."

"It's my decision. It's my tattoo, I wish I could finish this" Tui sighed knowing that if he couldn’t take her away from the sea he couldn’t keep her from anything she wanted.

"Okay, but there will not be any more tattoos until you get better, do you hear me? And there's nothing more to talk about. I’m still the highest authority on the island and your father." Moana smiled knowingly that under the authoritarian tone there was only one worried father.

"I know, dad. I'll rest for a few days."

"Well, I'll talk to Alepati, will you be all right?"

"I'll stay with her for a while and wait for her medicines."

Tui gently squeezed his wife's shoulder before leaving. Pua took his place, resting his head on Moana's palm. She caressed him distractedly.

"We were very worried, Moana."

"I’m sorry. I just wanted to get this over with as soon as possible."

"There is no hurry, you can take all the time that you want."

"Yeah." Moana's gaze drifted into the corner of the room. Sina followed her and found the strange calendar that marked the days of the visit of Maui. There was a daily record of all the time that had passed since Moana had called him, marked with crosses so heavy that she was certain that some had gone through the cloth.

"Why don't you call him?"

"Hm?"

"Maui, if you miss him you should call him."

"I don’t know what you're talking about." Moana turned to turn her back on the rug and closed her eyes. Her mother stood beside her, stroking her hair and whispering words of comfort.

 

* * *

 

Moana took a banana from the basket, peeled it and gave the peel to Pua, who devoured it with glee. Her mother, sitting next to her, finished hers and threw the peel that Pua also ate willingly.

"Tomorrow I want to continue with the tattoo," she said passively but firmly. Sina, who was going to get another piece of fruit, hesitated for a moment.

"Already? It's only been five days, Moana. Wait a couple of weeks."

"No, I'm ready, I've rested and I want to finish as soon as possible." She looked down to see the ink on her thigh poking out the edge of her skirt.

"Is there nothing I can say to change your mind?" For a moment the look of Moana blinked back to the wall with the tapestry, then returned to look at her tattoo.

"No, It is already decided."

 

* * *

 

The sun was rising when Sina awoke. She bent to kiss Tui gently, brushing his hair out of his face and stood up. When she went outside, she met the first fishermen on their way to shore. She greeted them with a smile and passed by. Slowly but surely she climbed the mountain until the column of rocks appeared in front of her. She approached the pile of wood with a rock and bent down to be able to steady herself better. After a few minutes the smoke came out of the tinder. She stood looking at the horizon for a few minutes and went down the mountain ready to start the day. She would not let her daughter suffer more in silence.

 

* * *

 

Moana stifled a scream, squeezing her father's hand tightly. Now she lay on her side facing her parents as the incisions were now nailing into her left hip, forming what was to be the sun rising above her skirt. Her mother was next to her father with Pua in her lap looking at her with sadness. The tattooist struck a little sharper and the punch stuck hard making her scream. Sina squeezed her eyes tightly and wiped her face with affection, giving her words of comfort.

It was then that a screech was heard from outside. The tattoo artist stopped working and everyone looked up to see a huge bird appear in front of them. As soon as the bird was close, it changed in the air and fell to the ground in the form of the huge demigod.

"Maui," gasped Moana watching him through the strands of the mess of hair that had escaped from her bun. "What are you doing here? I didn’t call you."

Maui approached the terrace steadily, staring at her as if he seeing her for the first time.

"I called him," Sina said harshly.

"Why?" She turned her face sharply to look at her mother with a surprised face.

She ignored her and left Pua on the floor to get up, Tui got up too, letting go of her hand to greet the newcomer.

"We're glad to have you here." Maui nodded to Tui, giving them a quick glance, then refocused on her. "She is doing her _malu_ and will not listen to reason."

Maui let out a soft laugh and shook his head.

"When did she does it?" he approached Moana leaving the hook on the ground and folding his legs. He fell with a strong blow that made the rest of those present rebound. Once seated he presented his hand in front of her. Moana stared at him with her mouth open, first at his hand and then back at him again and again. After a few more moments of indecision she took the hand he offered her and lay back on her side so the tattoo artist could continue his work.

"You should have warned me," he whispered.

Tui and Sina smiled as they both began to whisper, as if they were the only two people in the room. Moana looked a little annoyed but so relieved that Sina could feel nothing but pride in being able to help her daughter. Without wanting to disturb their silent conversation, both parents left the place with a smile.

"On the contrary," continued Maui, "it’s very brave of you. I have many tattoos but not one has hurt when it appeared."

"Don’t they hurt?" Moana swallowed, hard to speak.

"Nah!" He made a casual gesture with his other hand. "I just feel a tickle. It wasn’t the first time I woke up with a new tattoo" Mini Maui nodded completely in agreement. Moana laughed and a tear fell down her cheek. Maui automatically picked up the cloth in the bowl of water and, after soaking it, gently pressed to her face to clean it.

"You don’t know how much I envy you right now," they both laughed.

"Look," he leaned around as if he didn’t want anyone else to hear what he was going to say next. "This must be celebrated. When you finish the tattoos we will take a canoe and disappear for a few days."

"I think I'll need some time to recover," she murmured hesitantly. Maui stood up in surprise.

"Who are you? Moana of Motunui would have been running at this very moment to Lalotai to beat a pair of giant bats. I would even have been required to kidnap the _tufuga ta tatau_ so she could continue tattooing there."

The tattooist had to stop the job for a moment, rolling his eyes with a smile, when Moana began to laugh.

"Maybe we could ask him to give Tamatoa a couple of tattoos."

"Tamatoa?" He waved his hand. "He would eat it at the first blow of the chisel."

"Now that you mention it; I would love to go to Lalotai."

"I'll get the boat ready."

Moana gritted her teeth with a forceful swipe of tongue as Maui squeezed her hand harder.

"How much does she have left?" He asked Alepati.

"About two weeks, maybe just a week and a half. Depending on whether there is an infection and we have to stop again."

"Again?" Maui looked at Moana with a raised eyebrow.

"I had a fever a few days ago, nothing important."

"How long have you been doing it?"

"Since the last time you were here, more or less,"

Maui opened his mouth in surprise.

"That much?"

"Don’t be surprised, I'm sure that throughout your life you've seen someone who has tattooed longer."

"Of course I did." He wet the cloth and wiped her face again, "but they were feared adult warriors who ended up crying like babies the second day."

"I should be proud then."

"Of course, you're second on my list of ‘ _badasses_ ’ after me" he winked, then mini Maui hit his chest and crossed his arms, tapping his foot.

"Okay, after the two of us."

Moana shook her head and snapped her tongue at another bad prick.

"This area is very sensitive," Alepati apologized.

"I've had worse," she recalled with a shudder how painful it had been to do her inner thighs.

"Are they on the whole leg?" Maui asked, looking down at her covered legs.

"And halfway up her waist." Alepati almost seemed to say it with pride and praise. Maui nodded understandingly with a whistling whimper. Moana gasped and took Maui's hand to her forehead, clenching her fist tightly to keep from squirming or screaming.

Maui lay down slowly beside her without taking the hand away from her.

"You're doing very well, princess."

"It hurts."

"I know..." with his free hand he brushed a couple of strands out of her face behind her ear. "But this will end soon and once you are fully cured and with those beautiful tattoos in the canoe you will feel much better. You're going to leave everyone speechless. You have achieved that with me and that is impossible."

"What an honor," she teased.

"Oh come on, why do you always attack my pride?" He kept talking. He talked and talked and told stories, asked absurdities and recounted myths and legends with impossibly and dramatically altered endings. He knew it was a poor remedy against pain but at least he would try to keep her thoughts from the needle sticking into her skin.

"I liked flying," Moana blurted out later. Maui smiled.

"It’s great, right? I told you."

"Could we do it again someday?"

"Of course, we're going to leave all Motunui with their mouths open as we fly over them."

"I don’t know if it would be a good idea here, my father would pluck you like a chicken."

"I'm sure if he tries it he would like it."

The mental image of his father flying on the gigantic animal brought a series of laughter.

Laughter failed after another lance of pain, gasping under her breath. She gasped again as the damp cloth ran down her face again. She bit her lip, trying to keep any other moan out of her mouth.

"Hey, hey, don’t bite, you're going to hurt yourself." Maui ran a finger over her mouth, brushing against her teeth. Moana gave him a hard look. A bitten lip was nothing compared to a needle piercing her skin over and over again. He rolled his eyes.

After a few more minutes the tattoo artist stopped drying and wiping the ink and blood from the skin on her side.

"We're done for today," he warned them. Moana gave a long sigh of relief. Maui sat up, kneeling beside her. Moana grabbed her skirt with one hand and stood up, helped by her friend. She hissed as the cloth brushed her open wounds.

"You'd better tie your skirt low." Alepati stood up and rummaged through his belongings in a corner while Moana leaned on Maui. Once she was ready he handed the demigod a package made with palm leaves.

"It's for the infections," Moana said to Maui when she saw he was about to ask. "Thank you very much, Alepati. See you tomorrow."

"See you, Moana."

As she took the first step, her sight blurred and she stumbled.

"Hey," Maui said, grabbing her arm so she would not fall.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." She swallowed hard, trying to control her breathing.

"Take it easy, Mo, there's no hurry." He bent down, placing a hand on her back to comfort her. When she managed to soothe the pain she held her hands up to Maui to make it clear she was fine. He bent down to pick up his hook and they walked together until their reached the step of the terrace and he hurried down and extended his free arm to help her. Moana took it with a smile of gratefulness and carefully descended to ground, followed by Pua. Looking up, she found that the arrival of the demigod had drawn more attention, and a few of the villagers had left their duties to gather around them. To her surprise, Maui ignored them and focused only on her, he had not even said anything by the fact that she still held his arm. Although Maui came every few weeks they had kept their discreet visits on a remote part of the island where there was no one who could disturb them. She had told herself that it was to keep their friendship private and not be cornered by the congregation of his fans. So now that Maui was in the middle of the village he had all eyes fixed on him.

"Where we go?"

"Home, I don’t think I can do much more for today."

They were a couple of yards away when they heard a couple of timid voices calling behind them. Maui glanced over his shoulder and found three teary-eyed young women staring at him in fascination.

"Yes?" Maui said with a big smile. They giggled hysterically and approached him with a seemingly timid attitude.

"Could you... give us an autograph?"

Moana's shoulders sank visibly, and she sighed. They had touched on Maui's weak point: his pride. During these weeks, she had had her parents to help her return home after her hard and painful tattoo session but today they had left her in the hands of Maui. The problem was that the demigod had a great weakness for flattery and his fans. Today she would have to make her way home alone while he would stay signing autographs, doing a haka, shapeshifting, telling stories or simply flexing his muscles so that the tribe applauded how magnificent he is.

"Of course, cupcakes" he winked at them, making them whisper nervously between them. "But it will have to be tonight at dinner, now I have to take my wife home. You don’t mind, don’t you?"

Moana turned to look at him abruptly with her mouth open but Maui was not looking at her, still with that impossible smile of his looking at the girls. They looked shocked for a moment. Maui's question had been asked kindly but simply; If they wanted an autograph they would have it, but when he wanted to. If they didn’t want to wait they could leave without it.

"Yeah, sure, no problem. Thank you very much."

The girls laughed again and walked past them.

"See you later. I hope you get well soon, Moana."

"Thank you, Arona, I'll see you girls later."

Once they left, Maui turned his attention back to her. Pua pulled the tapestry apart with his teeth so they could pass smoothly. Maui pushed it out of the door, leaving it open to have light inside, and went after her into the small space.

Moana slumped carefully on her bed and untied her skirt down a few centimeters slowly, hissing as the fabric, by the blood, sweat and ink, caught her skin. Maui set the hook in a corner and knelt beside her, holding the little packet of herbs the tattooist had given him.

"Do you need help with that?"

"No, ah!" she gasped. It didn’t matter which way she put the cloth, as soon as she released it, it returned to the wound and needed both hands to apply the ointment. "Maybe."

Maui crept close enough to get closer and carefully picked up the fabric to push it away and leave it free to work.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. It's pretty swollen."

"I've had worse. I could barely walk when I tattooed my thighs, every touch was torture. Pua no!" Moana pushed the pig aside with her arm. The little animal was attracted by the smell of the cream herbs.

Maui laughed.

"Stupid bug."

Once finished the medicine she threw it into a basket and lay back resting her head on her arm.

"Maui," she said hesitantly. The demigod responded with a nod. "Thanks for what happened before, you know, for not getting distracted by your fans."

"I couldn’t do that to you, you're my number one fan." Moana laughed, not knowing when or how she'd won that title.

"What a great honor. I am Moana of Motunui, number one fan of Maui, shapeshifter, demigod of the wind and sea...

"And hero of all, you always forget that part," he interrupted, mini Maui nodded his head. His stomach roared in that moment in a very obvious and sonorous way and Moana burst out laughing in a groan as the wound on her side burned by the movement.

"Are you ok?"

"Yes, you have fruit there, in the basket by the heap of blankets."

The cabin was so small that all Maui had to do was lean over to pick up a couple of pieces from the inside. He showed her a banana in case she was hungry but she shook her head: the pain made her lose her appetite and the coppery smell caused a little nausea.

"Before... with Arona and the girls..." she began, Maui looked at her with a raised eyebrow and a mouthful of fruit in his mouth "... you called me _your wife_."

Maui frowned.

"That's what you're supposed to be here. I know we're just friends with each other, but they..."

"No, no," she interrupted, "I'm not upset or anything. It's just that I liked it when you said it... I know it's silly, I don’t know what I'm thinking. It’s the pain speaking."

Maui had swallowed the piece of fruit and looked at her with a tender half smile. He shook his head and opened his mouth to speak as a third voice joined them.

"Hey guys," Sina said from the door, "I've come to see how your session went today."

"Hi Mom. All good."

"Have you got the medicine yet?"

"Yes, no problem." Sina gave her a nod and looked at the demigod.

"I'm afraid the town has spread the word that you're here and I'm forced to ask you to stay tonight for a big dinner. They don’t stop talking about how great it is to have Maui back and that they should celebrate in appreciation for the good harvests and fishing of these last years."

"I love the banquets in my honor." He inflated his chest with airs of grandeur.

"I hope it's not too much that we asked you to stay a few days."

"Mom!"

Maui and Sina looked at each other for a moment, ignoring Moana's outraged scream. Yes, it was true that the village was excited by his visit but she was her mother and had been worried about her. She knew that Maui, as best friend and confidant, would make things easier for her.

"I was thinking of staying until Moana finished her tattoo." Moana turned her face to stare at him. "I have nothing to do and I would love to see when you finish them. “ He looked back at Sina. "If you have a place where I can stay and you don’t mind, of course."

"Of course we don’t mind," she exclaimed excitedly, then paused thoughtfully. "I was going to say that you could stay with Moana since the rest of the tribe knows about your marriage but this hut is too small for you to rest at ease. Not with you hurt."

"Maui shapeshifts, Mom. He can be made the size of a beetle, it will not be a problem."

"If you're sure it's settled. I'm going to tell your dad. Will you be okay to dine at the common cabin, Moana?"

"Yeah, I just need to rest for a couple more hours. We will be there."

With a last smile and a farewell Sina left them alone.

 

* * *

 

Moana gasped and pressed her forehead against Maui's fist. He brushed the hair off her face with a pair of fingers so he could wipe it with the cloth.

"Just a little more," whispered leaving the cloth and caressing her shoulder with his thumb a couple of times.

"You said that yesterday," she growled, looking at him with hatred.

"And before yesterday," Alepati recalled absently.

"Part of who you are?" Maui turned to him with a furious grin.

His attention returned to her as more tears escaped her eyes and clenched her fists to keep from squirming. Maui had stayed on the island with her for a whole week, accompanying her every moment and going with her to all the tattoo sessions. He had been by her side almost twenty-four hours a day, ignoring the rest of the town just to be with her.

When the silent cry began to appear Maui was totally petrified. Pua, at his side, complained and looked at Maui and Moana repeatedly, not knowing what to do. Maui bent down beside her, lying face down in his arms, whispering in her ear words of comfort.

"I can’t," she sobbed.

"Sure you can, you've been doing this for weeks."

"It hurts," she shuddered, Alepati was already so accustomed to these situations that he knew he should continue his work until it was finished, or he was asked to stop.

"I know it hurts, but you'll be able to deal with it. If you can’t, who will?"

"Are you going to give me a speech now about how I saved the world? Because that hurt less."

"No, now it's when I tell you that you're going to finish it because you always finish what you start, you're a strong young woman and this is not going to beat you."

"But…"

"Moana."

She looked at him, her face covered with sweat and tears, Maui looked at her decisively. "I trust you, you're going to finish this. And when you're done I'll take you away from here, do you hear me? I don’t care who tries to stop me, I'll get you off the island and I'll take you wherever you want; to Lalotai, to Te Fiti, to my sack of sunken rocks, to any island of your choice..."

Moana began to sob openly.

"For weeks I have not seen the sea," Maui smiled sadly, mini Maui peered through one of the islands off his shoulder with the corners of his mouth down in an unhappy grimace.

"You'll see today," he promised, "even if I have to carry you."

Moana let out a laugh, choked with tears.

"Maui’s Promise?"

"Maui’s Promise."

They spent the rest of the time whispering between them. Maui comforted her and told her about her future travels and future adventures, and Moana struggled between tears and laughter.

Abruptly Alepati stopped and sat up, Maui frowned at him.

"It's over." He looked at them with his bored wrinkled face and let the corners of his mouth rise in a confirming smile. Maui screamed as he jumped to his feet. Moana shouted with joy, striking the wood of the floor with her fists and feet in victory.

Maui held out his hand.

"Come on, Mo." She stared at his hand, her mouth open with uncertainty. After that second of doubt she grabbed it and Maui lifted her as carefully as he could. With her free hand she clutched her skirt in place so it would not fall.

"Where are we going?"

"To the beach."

Before she could add anything else, Maui pulled her up and grabbed her in his arms. Moana gasped as she sat on the demigod's huge forearm and passed the arm that did not support her skirt over his shoulders to avoid falling or an extreme movement to her tattoos. Before leaving, Maui picked up his hook and ran out of the deck with a bound. Down the slope they found Sina with a group of women repairing nets.

"Moana!" She shouted, dropping the cords with her mouth open.

"I'll return her soon!" shouted Maui without stopping, jumped over a child playing on the ground. Sina got up and ran out to find Tui, the rest left what they were doing and ran following Maui.

Passing the fringe of the jungle and reaching the beach, the sun blinded her for a moment. When her eyes became accustomed to the light, the tears came back down her cheeks.

 

 

"Has it always been so beautiful?" she whispered to no one in particular. Maui squeezed her leg affectionately for a few seconds and began to walk slowly toward the water. A group of boys accompanied them out of the jungle. Maui looked at them with a thoughtful smile and without thinking he left the hook in their hands. The children shouted with joy until the weight of the object made them crash to the sand.

The breeze moved her hair and the water splashed her feet as Maui reached the shore. The waves drew him deep and he obeyed as the tide reached his waist. Moana shifted her feet with joy. She had not played in the sea for so long.

Maui grabbed her by the waist and held her in the air in front of him at eye level.

"I heard that this can burn," he warned.

"Sea water is good for wounds." She shrugged, clutching at her forearms.

"Ready?"

"And you?" Maui laughed and very, very slowly, lowered her until she was in the water. Moana hissed at the pain, digging her nails into his forearms and resting her forehead against his chest.

"Are you OK?" There was no answer. "Moana?" He said in a more concerned tone.

When Moana raised her head, she had a devilish grin. Maui blinked in surprise and could not react in time when she gave him a strong push, causing him to fall into the water. Maui shook his head with a frown and looked down at Mini Maui-fist shaking his fist. He turned his head to look at Moana with the same wicked smile, which caused her to step back nervously. Maui splashed the water and, grabbing her ankle, pulled her down, causing her to fall backwards. She quickly composed herself and lunged for him, throwing him a seashell to distract him. Mau corresponded with a handful of mud. The battle began.

Sina and Tui admired the scene from the shore with a smile on their lips, as did the rest of the village behind them.

"I think they'll be fine," Sina said softly.

"Yes." The laughter behind them caught their attention and they turned to see the rest of the island watching the couple fight in the water. "Hey, all of you, go back to work. Go, go."

Everyone laughed and dispersed between groans and whistles. The four children with the Maui hook approached them not knowing what to do.

"Leave it here, they'll see it when they leave."

They obeyed and ran back to the village.

Tui stretched out his arm to his wife and they both headed toward the thicket.

"Ahh! Moana! That was a jellyfish!" was heard before the voices and laughter were too far to hear more.

 

Moana crept out of the water and lay down on the sand, suffocated with laughter and exercise. No one told her that fighting with a demigod could be so much fun. Seconds later, Maui fell back to her side, still laughing.

"What do we do now?" Moana asked, crawling toward him. Maui lowered his arm to let her use it as a pillow.

"Well, first find out where those little ones have hidden my hook, then I think we can go get something to eat and rest."

"I mean, what do you have in mind for our next adventure?"

"Hmm, we could go find a couple more islands, and Lalotai."

"Again? so soon?"

"Of course, I'm dying to see the crustacean’s face when you show him the tattoos."

"You should not start a fight now that you have reconciled." She pricked him in the ribs.

"Nah, it's just a joke among friends."

Moana gave a long sigh and shrank more against the warmth of Maui's body.

"Give me time to rest and we'll leave."

"No hurry, I like this place. It's... nice to feel welcome."

"Motunui will be your home whenever you want."

Maui was silent, at that moment the words were left over. He didn't know if Moana understood the meaning of her words. He pressed her gently against him and rested his cheek against her hair. She buried her face in his neck and closed her eyes.

She never knew how she got back to her cabin that afternoon.

 

* * *

 

Moana woke up alone the next morning, there was no trace of either Pua or Maui. She rubbed her face, looking around her, still numb. Then she remembered all day yesterday and looked down at her skirt. She made sure the door was closed and untied it gently. The seawater had worked miracles with her skin and she hardly felt a slight burn when she pressed the last area tattooed. She opened her mouth in admiration at the work. From the very first day on,  Moana decided to cover the _malu_  until it was done so it could be seen in its entirety. Alepi was the best tattooist on the island and had not let her down; It was an amazing job. With her knees shaking, she stood to look better, glancing over her shoulder at the details that covered her buttocks.

It was then that she heard a chattering voice approaching her tent. He quickly sat on the floor and covered herself with the cloth above her nakedness.

"Good morning," Maui said as she opened the loom on her door with the hook, in his other hand was a basket full of fruit. Pua was at her feet and ran to her when he saw her awake.

"Good morning, what have you brought?"

"Some gifts from your people. They are all very kind" he left the basket at her side and the hook leaning against the wall. Turning, he noticed the precarious cloth on her legs. "Oh, were you changing or something? I should have said something before entering."

"No, no, I was just looking at the tattoos. I was waiting for him to finish to see them."

Maui nodded sympathetically and looked down, then looked her in the eye again. She gave a half smile knowing what he thought.

"Do you want to see them?"

Maui didn’t react but mini Maui did as if leaning on his skin to see better, nodding over and over again. With a soft chuckle Moana left her legs uncovered all over the tattooed area, carefully covering the most intimate parts. He bent over to see the lines of the engravings, were fixed and firm: made by a master. An intricate detail above her knees caught his eye and brought a hand up to touch it, he was stopped by an annoyed mini Maui.

"I got it, look but don't touch. Let me be." Moana laughed and he shrugged, jerking his muscle to cause him to fly over his shoulder. "These here look familiar."

"I liked the ones you have on your legs, I wanted to add them to my drawings. Yes, these here." She raised her hand and traced her finger a few inches from the tattooed skin of the demigod's knee. She blinked in confusion, touching her own tattoos at once.

"They feel different."

"It's because mine are magical. They are born from me."

Moana nodded in silence, running both hands over the intricate details of his thighs in admiration.

"I have an idea: Dress, eat something and we will show your new tattoos all over the island. Surely your parents are looking forward to seeing them," he said, standing up.

"Okay, so I can tell them that I want to go on another trip."

 

The whole village left what they were doing to watch them pass. Moana was dazzling with her determined step and the cut in her skirt showing some incredible and powerful dark tattoos. Her head was proudly crowned with her usual wreath of flowers and a big smile on her face that widened when one of her friends greeted her by passing or making a compliment for her _malu_. Behind her were Maui, with his hook and Pua, scampering happily. Two presences firmly behind her. When they reached the great communal house they met Sina and Tui, who spoke distractedly to members of the tribe. When they saw them, they raised their heads and watched them with their mouths open.

"I'm finished with my _malu_ ," Moana said with a beaming smile.

"Let me see you." Sina got up so she could approach them. The rest of the visitors left after a nod toward Tui. "Moana, they are beautiful."

"Thank you." She smiled unable to avoid blushing. "I was very happy with them. I may get more."

"More?" Her mother looked at her in surprise.

"Yes, in the arms. I still have to think about what, but I have them pending."

"Once you start, you can not stop," Maui confirmed after her.

"But you'll give yourself some time, will not you? It is too early."

"No, no, I think I'll wait a few months, or years. No rush."

"These go completely with you" said her father. Moana smiled at him, then remembered.

"Mom, dad, I plan on going on another trip." They both took a quick look.

"You just came back."

"I came back weeks ago."

"But the time you've been here has been during the _malu_ , you've barely been with us or the people," Tui pointed out.

"I've done my work every day before every session. I've been worried about having everything in order."

"Moana, we've only seen you while you've tattooed. When you were finished you were too tired to spend time with us and also when you were sick..."

"But Mom..." She sighed in despair. She looked at Maui without knowing if he was seeking a third opinion or help, he looked back sympathetically.

"Mo, they're right."

She sighed again.

"I know they're right..."

"You know you can stay as long as you want," Sina said, looking at Maui.

Moana opened her mouth to complain, but closed it with a click.

"Okay, I'll stay here for a while," Moana pointed at them threateningly "but then you have to let me leave ."

"Fulfill your role as leader and we will take care of it while you travel. We may also accompany you on another adventure."

"What?" Moana's raised hand trembled, losing strength.

"We haven’t taken the boats past the breaks in a while, we have settled for the pleasures that Maui has given us." Tui shrugged. "But I think it's time to sail again."

Moana looked at them with a big smile and her breathing quickened for seconds.

"Are you serious? Are we all going to leave again?"

"As soon as we have everything prepared," Tui confirmed, smiling back. "We hope you will guide us again."

Moana jumped up and ran to hug them almost with tears of joy. They had left years ago on an adventure to explore the neighboring islands and to establish friendship and union between them. Then they had returned to the island, and the ships had been in constant readiness in case of a possible adventure. Moana was an only child so she couldn’t start a new tribe on one of her discoveries because Motunui would be without a chief. In spite of this they hadn’t hesitated to go to sea if only it were so that in their heart they knew that they could do it. That her parents decided to return to the ocean and that her whole tribe were with her was one of the most exciting news she had received in a long time.

"Thank you, thank you," she whispered into the embrace. "I'll go to get the maps, I'll show you all the islands I've visited and mark the ones we should go to. I will not disappoint you."

Before anyone could add anything, Moana rushed out pushing Maui hard out of the tent. Pua ran after them ignorant of all the commotion.

 

She was happily back home and stirring through all the tapestries and loose sheets she had piled up in a corner while muttering under her breath. Maui arrived a few minutes later with Pua, who stayed at the door.

"What are you looking for?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Moana exclaimed, pulling out a bundle of yellow scrolls. Maui approached from behind to look over her shoulder and blinked dazedly at the old maps that Moana had been collecting during all her travels. He had seen them before, he had studied them with her and he had recommended her that area to look for, but that was not what he noticed. What shocked him was the amount of crosses and marks on each map. They were made with fury, you could hardly see the drawing of the island below the smudged coal.

"What happened to the maps?" Moana gave a moan as a question and let him take the first of the papers to examine it. "They are full of crosses."

"Oh that..." she tore the map from his hands and stacked it again, squeezing them protectively. "When I went to get you..." her voice trembled and she fell silent Maui waited patiently for her to continue.  "When I went to get you, I decided to go through all the islands I knew" she lowered the papers, looked at them and handed them to him, Maui took them as if they were something sacred. "I crossed out the ones I didn’t find you so I won’t return to them."

Maui looked at them carefully, moving from one to the other.

"What are these circles?"

"They're places I was planning to return to."

"The damn rock island where you found me?" he gasped. She shrugged her shoulders.

"It was a place where I figured you could visit. It was your home for a thousand years."

"That was more a prison than a home." He went over to the next map and looked at her, pointing to another marked island.

"On this island I met an old woman who gave me an important clue. She had told me that you had already told me where to find you. " she rummaged in the pile Maui had in his hand and pointed to the nonexistent island, a simple circle in the water. "I left the belt of my skirt there, I thought I could go see if it was still there and get it back."

"Did you leave something?"

"Yes, in each place I left a carving in stone, a song for the towns and there, that there was nothing, I left the sash. I was looking for you."

"I'd like to hear that song of yours."

"Normal, it's about you."

"Did you sing a song about me?"

"About who but the mighty Maui?"

"I know, I've heard that there are people who sing about other things, is not it incredible? "He complained, in a hurt tone. Moana giggled and grabbed the maps from his hand and flicked them over.

"It's pretty stupid. You know, looking for a demigod from island to island... I didn’t know where to find you, "she snorted resentfully at herself," it's pathetic."

"No, it is not. It's the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me." Moana looked over her shoulder.

"Don’t say such foolishness."

"It's not, I'm telling the truth."

She smiled warmly at her maps and sat up.

"I will take this to my parents to plan our next trip. You will come with us, right?"

Maui shook his head slightly, her shoulders sank.

"Why not?"

"This trip is for you to do it. You, your people, friends and family. We will do it another time, enjoy this trip."

"You are my friend too, we consider you part of our tribe and family" she pointed to the door as if it has all the answers, "my parents adore you. They would be delighted that you traveled with us."

"Mo..." he winced, "not this time."

"But... "stammered without knowing how to convince him, he took a step towards her.

"If you are at sea, I will know where to find you. I will go and see you sail as I have done other times." She deflated and nodded, not very convinced.

"When do you leave?"

"Tonight. I have a couple of islands to visit and they can’t wait much longer."

"Will you go and discover islands? Without me?"

"I can not _discover them_  if I've got them out of the sea. There are a couple of surprises in one, if all goes well I know you will love it."

"It will not be more _siders,_ right? Because that was very disgusting"

 Maui chuckled.

"They're called _spiders_ and no, this surprise is better. I will see how they are and if they are worthwhile I will take you to see them. So you can be the first child, emm girl?... to discover them."

"I'm not a child," she snorted, then looked back at the maps. "I'm going to leave this to my parents and go to the beach to spend the rest of the day there with you."

She went out with Pua after her before even having an answer.

 

They walked through the jungle more and more. They ended up crossing the island and reaching the other end, facing the beach farthest from the village.

She sat on the sand hugging her knees and looking ahead, Maui sat down beside her.

"Can’t you wait for me?" she said after a while in silence. "You know, to see those islands. You can stay and come with us, we would take you there to discover them in passing."

"Since I know that in one of them there is a volcano... no. I don’t want it to be completely shattered by the time you discover it. "She turned her head with a grimace of doubt.

"What is a volcano?" He blinked repeatedly in surprise.

"You don’t know what a volcano is?"

"No, I've never heard that word."

Maui threw his head back, leaning on his hands so he could look thoughtfully at the sky.

"It's like a lava mountain."

"Like Te Kā?" She asked in astonishment.

"No, Te Kā was a demon. It is as if the mountain of Motunui had lava inside. If there is too much the mountain explodes and the lava destroys the whole island, sometimes it sinks it."

"It sounds... terrifying."

"Meh," he shrugged, "it’s natural on young islands. Over time they fall asleep or go out."

Moana opened her eyes, remembering something.

"It's like the legend of Pungarehu Island," she exclaimed. "On one of the islands I visited when I came to get you. I told them about you to see if they had seen you but they didn’t know who you were. The only god they knew was the god Rangitoto and they said that he lived asleep on the mountain. They performed dances and offerings to calm him."

"That's a good way to piss off Pele..."

"Pele?"

"The goddess of volcanoes. She has a slightly... volatile personality."

"She will not blow Motunui right? Besides, having you here should be a good way to keep them away." Maui laughed nervously.

"It’s better if she doesn’t know that I live here."

Moana swallowed at the words. Maui had spoken at other times about how comfortable he was on the island and how he enjoyed his unexpected little new family. But she would never have believed that Maui really took Motunui as a home and that he missed it. If he liked it so much as he said why was he leaving? It was true that he was a free spirit and enjoyed the ocean by raising islands, fighting monsters and living adventures that would become legends than on a seized island as he had been before, but what if there was another reason?

"Is that why you're leaving?"

"Hm?"

"You don’t stop saying how much you like Motunui but you just come to visit and never stay long. Is it to protect us?"

"That's a good reason. I attract problems wherever I go."

"You're the one who causes them."

"That too."

"You still know that you're welcome to stay, right?" He nodded.

"I know, Mo, but this is not for me."

"It could if you wanted. I'm the chief of Motunui, if I say you can stay, you can stay."

Maui gave her a gentle shove with his shoulder.

"It's great to have privileges by marrying the chief of the tribe."

"Privileges come with responsibilities. You should work with the rest of us to keep the village."

"Oh, come on, it's because of me that you have fish big enough for four people, what else do you want from me?

"Hmm let me see; Peeling coconuts, making nets, baskets, fishing, clothing, dancing…"

"Yeah, that's going to be a no. I have other responsibilities with mortals. Responsibilities of demigods."

"Let's see if I can figure out islands from the sea?"

"And give you coconuts."

"And?"

“And!?"

"Yeah, what else?"

"What do you mean, what else? I gave you the fire, the sky, the breeze..."

"I'm joking, I know that song," she laughed, he snorted. Moana moved a few inches until she was glued to him and rested her head on his breastplate next to her own tattoo, Pua accompanied her into her lap. "I am gonna miss you."

She noticed how mini Maui came alive and hugged her cheek. Maui contracted the muscle to push him away.

"Hey, you stop." Once the little tattoo was still, he rested his cheek on her head. "What can I say except we'll see each other soon?" He began to hum.

"Maui, you're a fool."

 

Before the sun set over the horizon Maui said goodbye with a last hug, shapeshifted into a hawk and flew out after a game of juggling in the air. Moana sat on the sand until the faded figure disappeared. It was Pua who urged her to return to the island, probably due to hunger since she had hardly eaten a couple of fruit peels that the couple of friends had for lunch. Her parents were waiting for her to dine and to catch up on the latest news and upcoming goals as a chief. Life on the island had been improving since Maui had done his magic, even people had ceased to get sick with the regularity of yesteryear and enjoyed a peace and health they had not had since the early years.

Tui also asked her about when she wanted to leave and what islands of all she had on the maps she wanted to visit. Moana avoided talking about the two new islands that Maui was going to investigate, she didn’t want to worry about that history of the volcano. She couldn’t help counting the days left to go out into the open sea again.

 

* * *

 

Moana raised her head again, frowning. She looked around puzzled. It had been only a couple of days since Maui had left and she was more involved than ever in her duty as a chief helping her people prosper. The good thing about traveling and discovering other peoples and customs was that she could bring new knowledge to teach her people. They were clumsy and slow but they learned with enthusiasm and they loved it. In spite of putting all her attention to her new apprentices, she had noticed a presence around her and she felt observed most of the time. Not only from the group around her asking questions about their new work, but between the thickets, attentive to her figure, expectant and direct.

"Moana?" said an old voice, she stopped, looked over her shoulder, blinked and came back to herself.

"Yes, I'm sorry, I've been distracted." She leaned over to see the fabrics better. "If you tie the knot a few inches higher there will be more space to put this other loop, see? Try it."

"Like this?"

"Yeah, you’re doing a great job"

"Thank you." The old woman smiled, moving in her place, enchanted by the flattery. She felt a tug on her skirt and turned to look at another figure who held out a knotted fabric.

"Ugh, again?" kneeling in front of the child, "let’s see, Apelu, you can’t bend the fabric or  it will get knots. When you work with it you have to leave it lying on the ground. We can clean it later, the important thing is that it doesn’t wrinkle or it would be impossible to work with."

Apelu looked at her with astonished eyes as she, with all the patience of the world, gradually unwound each entangled sow. When she finished a long time later she could see that she had organized a small group of curious people around her. She was the only one in the group who had been able to learn to untangle the threads without destroying the tapestry. It was undoubtedly the result of all the weeks she had spent on the northern island helping the women of the tribe as she herself learned.

"And here you have it" she stretched it out fully to avoid possible future knots. "Perfect, what do you think?"

"Thank you, M'ana," he said with a jagged smile before he turned to show his mother. She saw him walking with awkward steps and smiled. It was one of the things she liked about teaching her people; to see how one generation after another improved and learned, how, however small they were, they were always the first ones to get up and ask for help in order to learn.

She wiped the sweat from her forehead with her forearm, it was too hot under the sun to stand for so long.

"I think we're done for today." There was a general complaint. She raised her arms in peace. "You can ask me all the questions you want, it's just that I need to go see the collectors to see if they need my help."

With a couple of indecisive and sad farewells, she walked away from the clearing and into the jungle on the way to the coconuts working group. It was then that she noticed the presence again. She stopped and looked over her shoulder.

"Hello, Moana," a chirping voice said.

"Hello Arona, girls" the other two friends greeted more timidly. "I haven’t seen you with the group."

"Who cares to learn that? We are doing well as we are," said Arona. Despite being a year or two younger than Moana she was a few inches taller than her and more outgoing. She was known to be very popular in the town and to love that people noticed her even though they all already knew what she was like. The poor visitors fell in her traps. It was normal that she was accompanied by her two best friends, they were quiet and introverted, which made them seek her attention as leader of the group.

"It's always good to learn something new."

"Meh" she waved her hand. Moana looked sideways, annoyed by her attitude.

"Well, I don’t have time, we can talk later if you fancy a class." She turned to keep walking but was flanked by the group that had approached silently in her dismissal. Pua was somewhat intimidated by the girls.

"Not so fast, I want to talk about something."

"About...?"

"You know, about him."

"Him?"

"Yes, the demigod Maui, of course." Moana frowned.

"What do you want with him?"

"Oh come on, don’t get like that, it's just curiosity."

"Curiosity about?" Arona looked at her friends and bent to whisper close to her ear.

"How he is?"

"Huh?" Moana leaned back to increase the space between them.

"You know," she said, raising her eyebrows and giving her an obvious look, "how is he?"

"Hmmm you've already seen it, was here not long ago and you asked him for autographs" the three of them laughed under their breath with silly and hysterical laughter.

"Not that, you're married, I mean what he's like, you know... wedding night," she whispered the last part, putting her palm next to her mouth so the whisper wouldn’t be heard. Moana swallowed. For the entire island they were married and had a stable relationship despite the constant lack of Maui. Their marriage was the public reason for which Maui had greatly benefited the island.

"Um, he's... good, yes, you know, like everyone else." Arona raised an eyebrow.

"How good? Give us details, you know, is he big?"

"It has to be with being that large," said the friend on her right; Haeata.

"Yes, yes he is big" everything on Maui was big, there was no doubt about it. She did not know why this was such an interesting topic. The giggles came back.

"Surely he has had many couples before to practice." Arona raised her head with a sigh. "Has he taught you anything?"

"Hmm yes, many things I suppose."

"Like what? Ether is pretty dull, but he always does the same thing" the other two girls laughed. "Haunani is not bad, but he doesn’t last long."

"Well," she whispered, ‘ _what was she talking about?_ ’" Maui has taught me many things over the years."

The three of them gasped.

"Even before you married? Aren’t you supposed to be a _puhi_?"

‘ _Oh, the crux of the matter_ ,’ Moana thought.

"No, that was later. I mean he taught me to sail and read the stars, also to follow the tides..."

"But we weren’t talking about that."

"I know what you mean. Yes, Maui has taught me a lot about that too, but I don’t think he would like me to talk about it with anyone."

"Oh, come on, Moana, we're friends, who else were we going to tell ?"

She shook her head.

"It’s not a subject that I like to speak about in public" with firm and determined step, she began to walk. Arona and her friends had to move away so they wouldn’t be pushed. Moana was annoyed by those kind of questions. She hadn’t even known what she meant most of the time and if she said something stupid would prove that her marriage with Maui was only a fake. She knew they had been looking at Maui when he was here but she never thought they would be thinking of something like that.

She clenched her jaw tightly. It was obvious that they had been the ones who had been looking behind her during this time; Waiting for them to ambush her alone and ask a lot of stupid questions.

She arrived within a few minutes of the gathering group but was still lost in the last conversation. She had no one to talk to about it. She couldn’t speak openly to anyone in the tribe without the word being spread, it was a small town and the news flew. Her mother had explained it to her at the time, but with stories and metaphors that doubted they were real. She had told her that as a chief's daughter she must wait to find a man to marry her to have intercourse, she was a _puhi_ . It wasn’t like the rest of the women on the island who could play naked in the river with the boys, or sleep with them or have _“relationships”_ . The only boy she had slept with, apart from her father, was Maui, and she didn’t understand what it was that was talked about so much. It had been like sleeping alone only that there was a body at her side giving warmth. As for relationships, her mother had explained to her and she didn’t understand why it was so important or the subject of so many gossip about girls of her age: Men had an eel and women a cave. If the eel liked the cave it would come in and spit milk inside. That would mean that in a few months, if you didn’t eat some kind of gray seaweed along the shore before the eel entered, the milk would germinate into a baby. That was the story her mother and grandmother had told her since she was " _the right age to know_." But as for Arona's questions, they made no sense. Who could she ask? Maui?

She finished helping the collectors and, with a forced smile, she left the camp with a basket of coconuts and the rest of the group. She begged the gods for the group of girls to leave the awkward questions and giggles wherever they went. Soon, with an intense ball of anger in her gut, she discovered that it had been only the beginning.

 

* * *

 

Moana jumped up, wrapped the rope around her wrist and ran the whole canoe through the air until she reached the other end, falling gracefully on the starboard deck to put her palm in the water. She shook it dry and walked up the hull to the deck with a leap. She put the rope aside and ran to the helm where a group of young people were talking.

"Turn slightly to the left, we are getting off course."

"Yes, Moana," they all said in unison, a young man with an easy smile nodded and moved the rudder forcefully under the watchful eyes of his instructors. She turned and climbed the mast to see the rest of the fleet that accompanied them. Everyone was imitating her gesture and turning slightly to the left. She turned to look at the narrow horizon, the sun was at its highest; She supposed that they still had three or four hours of light before nightfall.

They had spent two months outside Motunui. Even though she came to think that the tribe could not stand it, these had ended by worshiping the sea. They had visited six islands in which Moana had introduced her parents to four of them that she had visited before. The islanders remembered Moana and had sung their song during the big lunch. She had been embarrassed because the song was about Maui and her parents were there listening to everything she had sung about him at the time, but they just smiled and tried to learn the song to follow the lyrics. They had stayed a maximum of three days in each place, enough to rest and replenish food but soon her people had wished to return to the ocean. Apparently the call that had been silenced so many centuries ago had returned with force. At least a couple of families who had stayed on Motunui guarding their home had all decided to join their adventure. Moana couldn’t be prouder of them.

She analyzed the maps mentally and calculated between whispers. Four days since the last island they had found and at least one more until the next if she was not mistaken. The water in the coconuts was running out and food was something to keep in mind when they were such a large group. They couldn’t do without finding other land to fill their holds.

She swung down from the mast and scoured the deck, alerting those who were doing something wrong and helping to correct their postures and the position of the sails.

Her parents were sitting on the deck, Sina was talking to other women from the tapestries of the last island they had visited, and Tui cut a wooden pole with a sharp stone. One of the wonders of visiting other cultures was everything they learned, and taught. In addition more than one member of another tribe had joined their congregation, called by the sea and the promise of new lands. Tui and Moana had welcomed them with open arms and their respective peoples had sent them off with tears, kisses, hugs, smiles and promises.

In total, three young people thirsty for knowledge and very experienced in fishing and hunting. Apparently some islands had quite large animals and they used everything, from their skins to their flesh and bones. Moana felt a mixture of fascination and sadness for every new creature she encountered. She didn’t doubt that these would become a good food for the tribe pertaining to the island. Two of the young men, Siaki and Kaikoa, had been rather skeptical when they discovered that their future tribal chief was a woman. The fact that her people had defended her as a strong, confident and trustworthy leader had done nothing to change their minds. However the alternative to stay on their island was a worse option for them, with this opportunity at least had the chance to travel to other places and to choose other peoples of other islands. They didn’t usually pay much attention anyway, which Moana decided to ignore for the time being. They obeyed Tui and father and daughter agreed to leave things as they were until they knew if they were going to stay permanently. No one was going to despise the head of Motunui, least of all for being a woman.

"Dad" she called, Tui lifted his head from his work and looked at her attentively. Moana knelt beside him. "We'll get to the next island tomorrow about noon, how do we go about provisions?"

Tui tapped Sina's shoulder gently. She looked at them with a questioning raised eyebrow.

"Moana says that we will arrive tomorrow, how are the provisions?"

"In the third boat they walk a little short of water but they have enough food."

Sina had taken a personal duty to check the provisions of all ships. Each canoe communicated by means of shouts, whistles and signals, if one of them had some kind of problems or needed some type of supply would inform and the person in charge of receiving the messages would advise to Sina that she would look for a solution with her daughter or her husband. In this way Moana could take care of teaching sailing to beginners, who went in the same canoe as they could learn from the master sailor, and Tui could take care of other duties such as fishing and the maintenance of the ropes.

"if you are able, get closer and give them a couple of coconuts. We can trade them for fruit if there is not enough, but by the time the pantry is exhausted we will be on land," Moana said.

Sina exchanged words with a girl and she got up to go to the bow of the _camakau_. The screams and whistles began, and the answer was soon heard. In a few minutes the girl had returned and gave the news.

"They're okay, they say they'll last two more days if they're careful with it."

"Well, one less problem. Thank you, Dorit." Moana inclined her head in thanks.

"How are the new ones doing?" Sina asked. Moana tried to hide the contemptuous gesture.

"They learn quickly, but they think they know everything. They don’t understand that they can’t open the sails without first grasping the rope, no matter how many times they have flown."

"Kaikoa looks like a good boy," her father added. Tui had a preference for him for his fishing skills and to know which fish of the area could eat or not, which made him a great ally on the high seas. Kaikoa was the middle of the three men who had joined. He was tall and sturdy with a rather impressive and detailed tattoo all over his right arm, his hair was long and collected in a tight ponytail at the nape of his neck. He had a rude attitude despite his age but had nothing to envy.

Siaki, the eldest had very dark skin and a fairly large scar on one side of his torso. He was the one who had started the whole movement " _a woman can not be head of a tribe_ " and Kaikoa had joined. Ehehene, on the other hand, was the youngster and had a keen interest in learning to sail. It was like a young version of her and she kept telling stories about how her grandfather had stolen the fishing boat and had come so far from the island that they had had to send a rescue group in search of him. He was thin and short with hair in wild curls and dimples. At his age he did not care who was the head of the tribe while they let him climb into the canoe.

"That's because you didn’t have to teach him, dad." She rolled her eyes. She'd wanted to give him a lesson in how to take the waves and the boy had looked her up and down and gone away muttering that a woman wouldn’t teach him anything. His loss; She was the only one who knew enough to do it.

She moved away from the group and climbed up the mast. It was the only place where she could take a break from people. On the island she could hide in the jungle or on the beach, but here there was no place where she could escape from all that required her presence. These moments alone had become very precious for her. She reached for her pendant and pulled out the small hook, playing with it distractedly.

She didn’t know how long it had been until she heard a familiar scream in the distance. He lifted her head with a smile to see the huge hawk reach out to her.

Maui circled the mast as a greeting and flew back east. He hovered in the air for a few seconds and with a gesture of his head flew to the horizon. She understood the message. She went down quickly and ran to her father.

"We have to go east."

"What? Why? I thought we were going north."

"I just saw Maui, he pointed me east. I think he wants to show us something."

"Our provisions will not last long, we don’t know how long it will take to get to where he tells us."

"We can ration the water, save the fruit for moments of need and take advantage of the fish. I don’t think it will take long to get here, three days maximum."

Sina and Tui looked at each other. She nodded.

"Alright, inform the others," Tui said. Moana started to go and tell the one in charge of the oar, but he stopped her. "Moana, if we see a place to replenish we will stop."

"Yes of course. Thank you."

She let her mother notify the others and she ran to the helmsman.

"We have to go east," she said, pointing there. Ehehene raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"To the East? But the wind blows north and according to your maps, the nearest island lies in that direction. There is nothing to the east."

"That's why we have to go east."

"Yes, Moana," he said a little hesitantly. Ehehene was an innate navigator, could recognize a tide by the turbulences of the water and the best wind by the smell in the air. He had only been on the sea for a couple of weeks and was already an expert. She had chosen her best students to be with the new apprentices when she had to take care of her other labors, Ehehene had been the last one and already surpassed most of them. All the helmsmen took turns after a few hours for breaks and meals, but it was very, very difficult to get him to leave the rudder. To be a land boy, his love of the sea almost matched her own and was the only one of the three who had a minimum respect for her. She understood it; In the rest of the islands the chiefs of tribes were men. Kaikoa and Siaki were older and saw that as an aberration, Ehehene was young and he didn’t care about anything except the sea. He loved taking classes with Moana and listening to everything she had learned during her years of experience, drinking her words, being sweet, polite and easy to impress.

"Well, I know it sounds scary but none of the islands on my map weren’t there, I put them on. You must confront your fears in order to find what your heart seeks" he looked at her with wide-eyed, utterly self-absorbed.

"Did you find it?" he stammered asked, he didn’t know if it was a very stupid or very personal question.

"Every time I get into a canoe," she smiled at him with a knowing glance and walked away to talk to the rest of the crew.

 It was the next day when the clouds began to form behind them. Moana stared up at the sky with a frown.

"A great storm is approaching," she heard beside her. She lifted the head over her shoulder and saw Ehehene with the same nervous attitude.

"Yes, if we stay the course we can take advantage."

"But Moana, the wind..." he kept silent unable to finish the sentence. It was not necessary, she understood perfectly. The wind came on port, they would not be able to go faster.

Moana wondered if this was the reason why Maui had come to make they change course. If they had continued northward they would have entered a dangerous storm. She had previously been in one and knew it wasn’t an experience she wanted to repeat. The size of the canoes now had no point of comparison with the last one she had but had also seen the length of the huge waves that almost sank it. It would equal the size of the canoe if they were caught in a Pacific storm. Now that she had all her people dispersed in different boats one of her fears was to lose some. What would happen to those who got lost in the gale? She was horrified at the thought. They would have to find a way to cope with the bad weather without more damage than a couple of torn candles and that was too much to ask.

Then he remembered the Kakamora and its huge divisible boat.

"We have to find a way to unite all the canoes," she said determinedly turning toward him.

"Unite them? But that will cause us to collide with each other."

"Not if we keep the candles, so the wind will not make us crash."

"But we still need a way to get the ships together. With only a few ropes we will not get it, they will break."

Moana gritted her teeth and faced the sea to analyze the canoes. Ehehene was right; joining the ships with ropes would be crazy, they wouldn’t take it and they would end up breaking and ending up colliding with each other. Besides, they couldn’t handle the bigger waves. To unite them like this would end in tragedy. If only they will find a way to unite them as the little pirates had done with theirs...

"I got it," she gasped, Ehehene ran to her side attentive to the next orders. "We have to join them by passing the wood from the logs under the raised decks." Ehehene opened his eyes in surprise.

"That would create like a giant puzzle. If we tie the canoes by the three parts that come together it will be more difficult for them to separate."

"Exactly," she said excitedly, "it would be like setting up a big boat with many little ones. We would put up with it better and avoid the ships getting lost in the storm."

Ehehene's shoulders sank with an accomplishment.

"But we don’t have enough ropes."

"We will use the sail ropes, when it subsides we replenish them but the important thing now is to stay together."

"Yes, tell me what to do."

Moana nodded and thought for a moment.

"Stop the canoe so the rest can join it. I will notify the rest of the crew to contact the others."

"Going." He ran to the helm, shouting orders to the sailors. Moana imitated him and ran to her father to talk about the storm and what they had to do if they wanted to survive.

"Moana, what's wrong?" said her father warned by the growing movement.

"A storm is coming, we have to unite the ships."

"Unite the ships?" Moana didn’t wait to respond and ran back and forth giving orders. Tui followed and after several chases he managed to grab her by the shoulders to stop her. "Can you tell me what's going on?"

"There's a storm coming. I think Maui felt it and came to let us know but it's too late. Dad, I've been in this kind of storm already, it's going to be bad. We need to remain united. If one of our ships disappears during the night in the midst of the wind and rain, the people in it... " she could not finish the sentence. Tui nodded sympathetically.

"What should we do?"

"We have stopped our canoe and we are going to ask the rest of them to join it. The storm will come in an hour or two."

"Long enough, go."

Moana obeyed with a nod and ran to the bow, waiting for the first ship to arrive.

 

* * *

 

Moana looked down at her hands, burnt by the ropes she'd been tying the last few hours. She hissed as she opened and closed her fist and cursed under her breath. At least they had managed to join the canoes into a huge boat. There were a minimum of four guardians at each end of the rope in each boat to avoid possible future problems. The first drops had scarcely arrived, and the wind was already deafening all around. The night was falling fast and deadly accompanied by a noise that increased by seconds.

"Hold it tight!" she heard. She raised her head quickly to find a group holding desperately two boats while one of them bound the cable.

"What's the matter?" she rushed over to them kneeling to match the guy tying the knot.

"It has come loose, the rope is wet and it slides," he growled, pulling hard from both ends. Moana grabbed one, avoiding a grimace with the pain and screamed behind her.

"Help, grab the ropes and pull."

Those behind her obeyed quickly and soon secured the knot.

"Thank you, Moana," the man said with a sigh of relief.

"You're welcome," she reply with a smile.

 

* * *

 

At nightfall all hell broke loose: there were loose ropes everywhere, the canoes collided with each other, the leaders of each one were heard shouting to the crews that they stayed in group caught between them and they would not be released for any reason. The younger ones kept moving, protecting each boat and rope. They ran from side to side trying to keep their balance in the violence of the sea. Moana had chosen to cover her hands with cloth and continue to help the rest. Her wreath had disappeared into the air in the first wave, she had tied her hair in a firm bun to keep it from covering her face with water and wind, her dress was soaked and torn everywhere, and her muscles screamed with each new movement demanding a rest that she was not going to give them.

"Dad!" she shouted. "Puleleiite needs help."

"I'm with Sione!"

Moana muttered under her breath and looked around, trying to make out some figure in the middle of the night.

"Siaki!" she exclaimed as she saw the new member of her tribe appear. "Go to the second ship, Puleleiite has problems!"

"I'm busy," he said, passing by with Kaikoa running behind. Moana grunted at his indifference and assured herself that the wood would stand up ran out to help her friend.

After finishing with the grateful Puleleiite returned to the ship that shared with her family, apprentices and close friends to make sure that everything went well with them. Tui was watching the sail with a group of young men while Sina remained with the elders and the children, doing everything possible so that the little ones were kept safe and out of the way.

She raised her head to see the congregation gathered around the candle to keep it steady and well-taken care of. She recognized Kaikoa, Ehehene, and Siaki talking to each other in shouts and pointing to various parts of the mast. She ran to them to find out what was going on, but a scream paralyzed them all.

"Wave! A wave is coming!" she looked over her shoulder and found a huge wall of water protruding several meters above the canoes and approaching slowly but decisively toward them. She hurried to the group and clung to the mast, her heart beating loudly in her ears. She felt an arm around her body to hold her in place and half opened one eye to see Ehehene watching her with fear disfiguring his fine chestnut features. She wanted so much to be able to give him assurances, to tell him that everything was fine. Instead she pressed closer to him and wrapped an arm around his waist to hold him too. His tiny size was a firm weight in her hands and she felt an unmentionable terror at the thought of seeing him disappear into the wild ocean. She held her breath in anticipation of the inevitable.

The wave attacked them mercilessly. Moana heard the roar of the water, the screams, the crying, the wood creaking and the sounds of ropes breaking with a pop. As she passed behind a curtain of icy water she let out a breath of air and opened her eyes quickly to look at her companion. Ehehene was soaked, crying and exhausted, but alive. That was more than enough.

"Thank you, Ehehene," she said with tears in her eyes, wiping her face futilely with her forearm. He opened his mouth to answer but a question at her side froze her blood.

"Where's Siaki?" asked a broken voiced Kaikoa. The three of them stepped away from the mast and looked around, but there was not a clue where the fourth person was.

"Siaki!" they shouted in unison. Kaikoa was shaking and looking around in desperation. In the few weeks of coexistence these two had become almost brothers. Siaki was known to spend his free time with Kaikoa and he saw him as a figure to follow.

"There!" Ehehene shouted, pointing toward the sea. Moana and Kaikoa looked to the point and saw a dark figure in the water signaling them. There was such a noise of water and wind that they could barely hear each other’s screams.

"You have to throw a rope or something!" cried Kaikoa in anguish.

"There’s no more, they're all tying the boats together. Too many have broken," Ehehene muttered behind them in a dry voice.

"We can’t let him die!" Kaikoa gasped helplessly. Moana clenched her jaw.

"I trust you, ocean," she murmured. Kaikoa and Ehehene turned to her, not quite understanding what she had said.

"What? What are you going to do?" Asked the two of them. Moana took a determined step forward.

"Tell my parents we'll be back."

"Moana? Where are you going? You can’t mean it!" Roared the younger one. She clenched her fists on either side of her body.

"I am Moana of Motunui and you are my people. I will not lose you in the sea, none of you."

Before they could do anything, she was already on her way to the hold. She grabbed a coconut basket and jumped into the cold, dark ocean, ignoring the screams behind her.

The water dragged her for several meters pushing her inward. She had to use all her skill as a swimmer and the strength she had left to keep afloat. After several seconds of swimming she came to the figure.

"What have you done?" Siaki shouted in surprise, annoyed and astonished.

"We'll talk later, can you swim?"

"Only in rivers!"

"Okay, listen to me, you have to move your feet to stay afloat and then move forward. We have to get to the ship before they disappear. Don’t let go."

They advanced a few yards, but the boat gradually disappeared along with the shouts of all the people who had peered out at the deck to see them.

A wave passed over them and pushed them to the opposite side.

"Ocean, we need you!" she exclaimed, pulling her head out of the water with difficulty. Another wave rolled them, pushing them toward the bottom. Moana came out giving a strong breath and looked around for Siaki but he had not surfaced. Filling her lungs with air, she descended through the dark waters trying to distinguish in the gloom. She felt him more than she saw him and clung to him to bring him to the surface.

The ships had almost disappeared altogether. She didn’t even know if Siaki was breathing and she could only think of breathing and keeping her head out of the water. Her vision clouded and she could barely keep consciousness. The last thing her eyes saw was the shadow of a fin approaching them.

 

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story of the eel and the cave is taken from the novel Memoirs of a Geisha. I read it years ago but this way of explaining sex to a young woman was something that always stuck to my mind. In the book is explained it with a fish (or a snake) in this case I think an eel is appropriate because of the Polynesian fauna.
> 
> One of the points I wanted to study to begin this fic was how sex and sexuality were treated in the ancient Polynesian tribes. I wasn’t surprised to find out that sexuality was very standardized (even in adults with children), and even had practical classes about it. However the high-status women, the puhi, had a slightly more sexual life. I didn’t get all the information I needed so I more or less reinterpreted it as sex in the tribe is normal, studied and practiced at school, but Moana, being who she is, took classes apart from her parents. And they taught her with the history of the eel.  
> If you are interested in learning more about sex in the tribes you can find information [here.](http://polynesianresourcecenter.com/culture/item/polynesian-sexual-customs)
> 
> For tattoos I took information from [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pe%27a) and [here.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malu)
> 
> I leave you a little dictionary of the terms:  
>  **Pe'a** : Tattoo on the legs of men. These show rank and importance.  
>  **Malu** : Tattoo on the legs of women, are less detailed than pe'a.  
> [(Here you have an example of the two, to see their difference)](http://www.liberoquotidiano.it/resizer/610/-1/false/1417524617475.jpg--una_coppia_di_polinesiani_.jpg)  
>  **Telefua** : who leaves the tattoo undone. It is usually taken as a loss of honor.  
>  **Solo** : The one who holds the hand of the person that is being tattooed, like Moana in the movie.  
>  **Tufuga ta tatau** : The master tattoo artist.  
>  **Camakau** : is the canoe from Moana's movie.
> 
> The story of the island Pungarehu is invented, Pungarehu is "ash" in Te reo and Rangitoto is an island, not a god. 
> 
> As you can see the chapter has an illustration. I have opened an art blog for Moana (Moana/Maui) where I will upload illustrations for the chapters. I just opened it so there is not much content, but I will update it periodically. I don't take requests and the commissions are closed for now but if you liked some scene from some chapter tell me in the comments and I'll see what I can do ;)
> 
> ["Has it always been so beautiful?"](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/post/161601417471/has-it-always-been-so-beautiful-illustration) by [MagicFishHook](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Please do not do repost, if you want to share the fanarts reblog them from the tumblr.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, as you see I am trying to illustrate the fic little by little. Explicit chapters are coming up and I have to ask a serious question:  
> Do you want me to upload the NSFW drawings here or do you prefer that I put a link to the blog? I know that many read in public places, so I am forced to ask this question before uploading anything that may be a problem for my readers. Please, if you do not want NSFW images here, tell me in the comments.
> 
> I hope you like the chapter. Thanks for reading!
> 
>  
> 
> ***UPDATE: There's a misunderstanding in this chapter that has brought more of a problem and criticism. Maui DOES NOT AGREE to teach Moana anything. Both are talking about two different topics.**
> 
> **You will understand when you read the end of the chapter**

Moana frowned, closing her eyes tightly as she felt her face buried in the sand. She sat up and pushed the dust off her face, spitting the dirt, and looked around to try to find out where she was. She saw Siaki lying unconscious a few yards away, all the memories passed through her mind. She got up quickly and ran to him to take his pulse. He was alive. She sighed with relief.

Due to the movement and the sudden contact Siaki awoke suddenly and sat with a tense and alert posture.

"It's all right, all right, it's me, Moana," she said softly. Siaki looked at her in surprise. "I don't know if you remember, but you fell from the canoe. Apparently the ocean brought us here. I still don't know where we are, but surely we can find some help if we find the river", after all the great part of the towns were made next to a river to be able to have drinking water at a safe distance.

"You saved my life..." he murmured in surprise. Moana blinked surprised.

"I wasn't going to let you drown," she said as if only that explained everything.

"You could die, too."

She shrugged.

"The ocean is a friend of mine. I had an advantage." She ignored him as he raised an eyebrow skeptically, not believing one of her words.

"I owe you a living debt," he said solemnly. She shook her head.

"You're part of my tribe now, it's my duty to help you in any way I can, what kind of chief wouldn't do that for their people?

"You'd be surprised to see what other chiefs are made of," he mumbled under his breath. Moana smiled sadly.

"I know you have a good reason for being like that and hate me for being chief and a woman. But I have always wanted to show that that is not what matters, but how well you know how to guide and protect your people. Now, if you're okay and if you don't mind, I think we should look for that river."

Both stood up, staggering with dizziness. Moana was the first to start walking.

"I appreciate you wanting to forgive the life-debt, but I'm not going to let you, I owe you my life," he repeated, following her steadily.

"Find a couple of coconuts and you will not owe me anything. I'm starving."

They went deep into the jungle, talking in amusement. Moana hadn't spent enough time talking to him to get to know him, and the fact that he had a selfish, blatant and disrespectful attitude toward her had not improved their situation. Now that he owed her his life and made peace as to what being chief of the tribe meant, they were beginning to have a real friendly talk. They talked about fruits and fish, especially those that could be found in Motunui, they also talked about the town itself, its traditions, parties, dances and people. After a good couple of hours they found a couple of fruit trees and sat down to eat and rest. Siaki pulled out an enormous pole that began to sharpen and peel with a stone.

"We don't know yet what kind of animals there are," he said when Moana asked. She added nothing and continued to chew the huge ripe bananas she had found. She hadn't wanted to say anything, but as they walked without finding any river or human presence, she had become more and more concerned. She didn't know where her parents were, she didn't know where Siaki and she were or even if there was someone on this island. The uninhabited islands she had found were few but still extant. Finding food had comforted her minimally: at least if they couldn't get out they wouldn't starve to death. She reached for the pendant automatically and stroked it to make sure it was still in place.

"We'd better get going," Siaki said after a moment with his sharpened wooden harpoon.

"Yes. If by evening we haven't yet found a river we would have to worry about a refuge."

"On my island we make hunting refuges with palm leaves. We'll have to take turns sleeping, but we better watch out, we don't know if there are any predators here."

"What kind of animals do you have on your island?"

"Dragons," he said automatically.

"Dragons? What are dragons?"

"They are reptiles that live in the water. They have long, scaly bodies, and even longer, tooth-filled heads. They are very aggressive so every time we have to go to the river for water we must go in armed groups."

"Wow... in Motunui we don't have anything that wants to hurt us. Some plants are poisonous but we have taken them out of the village and are only deep in the jungle. Were those dragons the ones who gave you that scar?"

They continued the conversation as they walked. Moana soon discovered that he was a rather intelligent and clever man with a great ability to hunt. The scars on his island were a sign of brave and courage. It was a land where honor and strength were the most valued skills. They had never cared about adventure or going out to sea. Just to survive and be the best at it.

They emerged into a clearing among the palm trees and Moana opened her mouth in surprise as she saw a great puff of smoke coming out of the mountain.

"That has to be a volcano," she whispered to herself, remembering Maui's words on a mountain of fire.

"Moana?" He asked, interrupting what he was saying when he saw her reaction. She opened her mouth to answer but a shuddering scream was heard above the treetops.

A huge hawk appeared flying toward them. Moana's face brightened as she stepped forward but was cut off by Siaki who stood in front of her with an arm raised protectively.

"Don't worry, I will not let it get close."

She went to answer, but she gasped as he threw his harpoon at the animal.

The huge bird stopped suddenly in the air and with a bluish flash and a creaking changed shape into a human, hit the weapon and fell to the ground with a sunken knee and the face covered by hair. He stood slowly looking at him with a serious face and a frown.

"Get away from us," Siaki said, recovering after seeing the hawk become human. Maui glanced over his shoulder at Moana who gestured and said a big _NO_ mute. He let out a laugh at the situation, which made it worse by making the laugh seem like he was mocking the human. He raised his serious face and began to walk in circles circling them slowly. Siaki followed, leaving Moana behind him at all times.

"Why should I? You are in my dominions, mortals, what do you come to seek my kingdom?"

"We arrived in the middle of a storm, we don't want anything from you, we don't even know who you are!"

Maui looked a bit offended by his words but kept his character in spite of Moana's grin.

"I _am_ the great demigod Maui, mortal!" shouted inflating the chest, "and you will not leave here alive if you don't give me that woman." He pointed her with the hook with a dramatic pose.

"Never!" Siaki seemed to have stepped back a little at the name of so many legends but his request had kept him in place. "I would give my life before I let you take her."

This time Maui looked touched, blinked, and raised an eyebrow.

"What a strange boy you've found, Mo, where did you get it from?"

A breeze swept the place that remained silent for a few moments after his question.

"Mo?" Siaki hesitated in surprise. Moana answered behind him.

"We've collected three new members from a couple of islands." Moana stepped out from behind the warrior and approached Maui.

Maybe it was the usual way they talked or the fact that she moved toward him without fear but Siaki didn't react to the situation.

"We had a problem with the storm and we fell into the water. He is Siaki, he is a new friend."

"What's going on?" he said looking from one to the other, both burst out laughing.

Maui scoffed.

"What amuses me most is that you try to protect her." Maui nodded. "She has defeated the lava demon Te Kā only with her bare hands."

Siaki looked at her in surprise, Moana smirked halfway, tapping Maui on the side with her elbow. It was rare for the demigod to recognize the value of anyone other than himself and even more in front third parties. Siaki looked at her as if it were the first time he saw her. He really had behaved in a very uncharacteristic way with a chief of the tribe who was not only friends of demigods but had fought with lava demons.

"Enough," she finished, looking at Maui. "We have to get out of here and find my family. My parents must be very worried."

"Don't worry, they're on this island. I was the one who picked you up in the middle of the storm and brought you here, I went to talk to your parents to let them know that you were well and came back to wake up and take you with them."

"You were the shark?"

"I couldn't fly with that wind. I thought I would give you time to get here before it started, but when you didn't arrive I went to get you."

"You're the best." She shook her head without words to thank him.

"I'm Maui," he winked.

The three of them set off following the demigod to where the rest of the tribe had landed. Moana, who was in the middle of the two to avoid possible friction, pointed the mountain to Maui asking about the volcano and he responded cheerfully to the conversation. The only one that seemed out of place was Siaki who was following the road in silence.

Moana and Maui ended the conversation with a joke on their part and continued in quiet stillness until Siaki leaned toward her.

"So," he began hesitantly, "is that true? Did you really just face the lava demon?" Moana dismissed him.

"She _wasn't_ really a demon and Maui was there distracting her so I can't take all the credit."

"But it's still incredible, what did you do?"

"Well…"

Maui walked in silence beside them listening to the conversation but stopped abruptly when he felt a pressure in the chest. He looked down to see Mini Maui pausing with his arms raised. Maui frowned at him without knowing what he was talking about until the tattoo pointed suddenly and repeatedly to the front. He raised his head and saw the two friends talking and walking away without noticing that he had stayed behind. Moana laughed and gestured with her hands and the young man nodded at what she was saying and looked at her expectantly. Maui smirked and looked at his tattoos with a plan. It was the first time he had seen her like this with anyone, it could be that during most of his travels and visits, they were alone with no one but themselves to interact. But seeing her so lost in the conversation, so ignorant of the environment ...

"That boy has protected her from a demigod," he whispered, making a gesture when the tattoo complained. I know, I know she doesn't need protection, but he still did."

He looked back at them in the distance. Maybe it was time for her.

 

* * *

 

 Moana was ambushed by Pua when she appeared on the beach where her village had settled. She cried with joy at seeing him since she had not heard from him since the storm and had been very worried about her little friend. Seconds later she was wrapped in the arms of her parents.

"My daughter, my child," her mother whispered in tears. "Don't do that again."

"I'm fine," but she held her tightly back. She didn't want to mention that at the time she was afraid she would never see her parents again. Tui was the first to cut the hug when he saw Maui and went to him to thank him. When Moana let her mother go she could see that beside him was Ehehene who looked halfway between distressed and happy.

"I couldn't do anything! I am sorry!" He said, bowing his head.

"There was nothing you could do," she replied, placing a hand on his shoulder to comfort the boy. "It is my duty as a chief, I didn't expect anyone to come and save me. I did what I had to do."

"But still, I had to try something: throw a rope, turn around... I went to warn Tui but a huge man appeared from the sea and-" he looked over her shoulder and pointed out screaming "Him! He appeared the sea. No one believed me but I saw him."

Moana turned to look at Maui who watched them bored.

"Don't get excited, kid."

"He's Maui," she said to Ehehene. "He's a friend of our people."

"Maui? Like the demigod?"

Maui pointed him with the hook.

"Not _like_ the demigod, I _am_ the demigod."

Ehehene looked between Moana and Maui repeatedly waiting for the punchline, but then his face opened in a wide expression of astonishment and approached him to investigate Maui closely. Sina wrapped her arms around her daughter.

"We'd better go to the camp so you can eat something."

Moana nodded.

The camp had settled on the beach on the other side of the island next to a river that went down to empty into the sea. In the sand were only a couple of women surrounding a bonfire and carving stakes for possible future coconuts and surrounded by baskets with the last provisions of the boats. Boats that could be seen in the distance run aground in the water with a group arranging the splintered wood, repairing the shredded sails and putting the ropes back in place.

"Did you have trouble getting here?" Moana asked, sitting down and taking some of her mother's fruit. Pua sat down next to her, placing his head in her lap affectionately.

"No, at dawn we saw the island and paddled here. There was a bit of difficulty loosening the boats but they have done a great job."

"I see they're fixing them."

She nodded toward the sea.

"Yes, there are some other broken spars and planks, but they will survive, and you?"

Moana shrugged.

"I don't know, I don't remember anything. Just how I jumped out of the canoe for Siaki and woke up on the beach."

"Ah, yes, the new man." She leaned toward her. "How did he behave with you? I know it is a bit difficult but hopefully over time he will become accustomed to our traditions."

"He's fine, I guess. It is something that he has grown up with since he was young, knows nothing else. He'll get used to living with us every day." She smiled. "Also, he ‘ _saved_ ’ me from Maui."

Sina raised an eyebrow.

"Did he s _ave you_ from your _best friend_ Maui?" They both laughed.

"You know, because I am a woman, I can't defend myself against a huge, fierce demigod. The normal thing," she said sarcastically.

"And what is this tattoo?" They heard behind them. Maui and Ehehene were talking together about Maui's deeds as a demigod with Siaki next to them in silence. Tui had decided to return with the rest of the tribe who was in the woods trying to find food. Siaki's face lit up at the sight of her.

"Can I sit down?" He asked the two women.

"Sure, sit, eat something," Sina replied, holding out a piece of fruit. Maui and the boy sat in front of them in a circle. They spent a couple of hours talking between them, Maui seemed very fond of the young boy who kept drinking in his words with big eyes like a puppy and asking all kinds of questions. Moana almost thanked him silently that he was wearing his hair loose; Ehehene had walked around his tattoos one by one, asking about each and every one of them and she knew that Maui wouldn't be very happy if anyone noticed the one he was covering on his back.

Meanwhile, Siaki had been keeping her entertained with questions about both islands and their days of adventure. His old resentment seemed to have completely disappeared, and instead a young man with an easy, attentive smile remained. Moana liked the change, she hated people thinking about her even before giving her a chance to talk and make herself known and more if it was for something as stupid as being born of one gender or another. She was worth it for herself and that is what the world should see.

"Ah, they're back," Sina sighed with relief. They all turned to the trees where small groups of people began to come out with their hands full of baskets. Maui had already informed them that there were no dangerous predators and that the island was unoccupied, but even so, whenever they arrived in a new world they feared to find something with which they were not prepared, and to be finally reunited was a weight that was removed from their shoulders.

There was a shout, and one of the men who had just appeared released his burden and ran toward them. Siaki got up quickly and trotted towards Kaikoa meeting halfway in a long embrace. Since they met, they had been like brothers, either because they were two strangers in a new family or because their cultures matched more than those of Motunui, but they had ended up being inseparable.

Tui and Sina held hands affectionately with a small squeeze and caressing their knuckles. Moana smiled at that; No matter how many years passed, her parents seemed just as much in love as on the first day.

"I think we've found what you told us," Tui said, looking at Maui.

"Have you? What do you think?"

"What are you all talking about?" Moana asked, unable to resist.

"There are small lakes of hot water."

Moana opened the mouth with bewilderment.

"Hot water?"

"They're called _hot springs_ ," Maui explained. "They warm up because of the volcano. You have to be careful with the temperature but I know a couple of them that are perfect for a bath."

He winked at them.

"But are they really hot? Like fire?"

"Nah, not so much."

"Sounds interesting," Sina said excitedly.

"We can go," Tui replied. Moana suddenly stood up and looked at them excitedly, "later" inquired. "First we have to deal with what we have found and finish fixing the canoes."

"That can wait," Moana decided.

"Moana," Tui began in an authoritative voice.

"No, seriously, we deserve it: we've crossed the ocean and just passed a horrible storm. A break wouldn't be bad, we deserve it. We are tired of the trip, we just want to enjoy the island a little."

"You're dying to go, aren't you?" Tui folded her arms across his chest, looking at her conscientiously.

"A lot!" She exclaimed, leaning forward with her hands on her back, waiting for a statement. Tui rolled his eyes, surrendering.

"Okay, I'll call the rest, let's go to those hot springs."

Moana screamed with excitement and urged the crowd to set out as fast as they could. Tui went down to call those who were arranging the canoes and Sina, gathered the rest on the beach. Together they began to walk into the forest guided by their former leader. Moana started to follow them, but a huge, swift arm swept her out of the group, taking her to one side in the foliage.

"Maui?" She asked, looking over his arm as they moved further and further from the village.

"I told you I had a surprise." He cracked his tongue with a smile.

"I thought you meant the hot springs."

"Yes and no, you'll see."

They walked a long time talking about the last events of the time that had been separated. They walked along hidden paths, jumped rivers, and climbed a small slope until Maui suddenly stopped.

"Well, we've arrived." He reached for huge palm leaves and slowly drew them apart, creating drama. There was a clear desert in front of them and a dull earth color. Moana frowned at the doubting why this was better than hot water. She came closer to see it better and jumped back as her feet felt the heat on the floor.

"What is this?" she asked. She saw that the clearing was not such thing, it was a huge puddle of bubbling mud with a rather unpleasant bitter smell.

"This, princess, is mud. Hot mud, to be more precise." He stepped forward, nailing his hook into the soft soil so he could kneel and put his hand inside.

"Maui!" She took a step toward him, worried that he would get burned, but the demigod sat up with his muddy hand and turned to face her.

"It's harmless." He held out his hand. Moana's eyes met between the two, but she touched the damp surface with confidence. Her eyes widened with surprise at the texture and temperature.

"This is... wow why is it hot? Has it melted?"

"It is normal water and earth, but being near the lava it’s heated. If we were closer to the volcano you surely couldn't come closer, it would be boiling."

"What is done with this?"

Maui smiled at her, showing all his teeth.

"You take a bath."

He turned around and went back to the puddle of mud, tying his hair in his bun.

"If I were you, I would tie up my hair, the mud feels great on the skin but it is horrible to brush."

Moana went to answer but was stunned when Maui began to release the ropes that held his skirt. She turned tautly, staring into the jungle. Maui was naked behind her, it wasn't the first time, she still remembered their wedding night when he changed without caring that she was in the same room. She had been staring long enough to discover that he too had tattoos on his buttocks but had not been observing enough to know what it was. Would he have tattoos on the front too? Oh, wait, maybe that's where the men kept the eel that her mother was talking about. Where else? It was when he remembered all those hysterical giggles and uncomfortable questions from Arona during the months she was on the island. _What was Maui like? It was big?_ What kind of questions were those? Perhaps she could ask him now, since he was the only one who she dared to ask, apart from her parents and that was going to be a conversation she would rather avoid. She couldn't talk to anyone on the island without spreading the word that Motunui's chief was asking inappropriate questions for a woman of her level. Maui would know the answers, surely he could teach her.

She exhaled deeply and glanced over her shoulder with curiously: Maui was already buried in the mud up to his chest with his head thrown back and his arms at the edge of the pool. By his indescribable grimace of pleasure it was a magnificent bath. Moana bit her lip, not knowing what to do. It was just the two of them and Maui didn't seem to have any interest in her, only in his bath. She tied her hair slowly to give herself time to think. Then she noticed something and frowned: they were friends, they were married yes, but they were best friends. The two of them were alone and the only thing that stood between her and a pleasant evening with a friend were her stupid inhibitions. It was her body, Maui had acted with total normality to the nudity and she was going to do the same.

When she began to remove her top, she stopped to look at the demigod, who hadn't changed his relaxed posture with his eyes closed and his mouth open as if he were sleeping. Quickly she took off her clothes and undid her skirt to run to the edge of the pool. She dipped a toe in gingerly to test it, and slowly descended until the mud almost covered her shoulders. Then she let out a moan of pleasure:

This was magnificent.

"Oh, wow," she closed her eyes in pleasure, when she opened them saw Maui looking at her with narrowed eyes and a silly smile.

"Amazing, right? It had been almost a thousand years since I'd had one of these baths." He jerked his head back with a long sigh. Even Mini Maui was with his arms crossed behind his head and his body lost in the mud.

"You should have brought me here years ago," she replied, waving her arms around her. It was a strange texture, could hardly swim, was heavier and undoubtedly hotter than the Motunui's river.

"Oh believe me, if I had known this were here, it would have been my first destination after leaving that mountain of rocks. No hook nor Te Fiti; My first hot bath in centuries."

Moana chuckled and crawled to the opposite side of Maui, staying in front of him. Maui had been her friend for a few years and she had never taken a moment to look at him with these new eyes. He couldn't be said to be handsome but his charisma and personality helped his appeal, he was strong, quite capable and intelligent, clever, a bit clumsy but with a great eye for complicated situations. In their meetings he was always in a good mood until the jokes began and he was always the one who got his pride insulted, but he had never been angry with her in a bad way. Attentive, considerate, sympathetic, egocentric and narcissistic too, of course, but now it was not just Maui, it was now an us. Moana and Maui, the saviors of the world, those who taught mankind to sail again. Her people adored him, it was easy for him to be loved by mortals for the love and gifts he offered them.

Maui was loved by all, all he had to do was say his name out loud and people like Ehehene would have gone mad at his presence. He could have the world at his feet, and there he was, sharing with her a little bit of his own personal paradise. How many people would have seen him this relaxed and lost in himself? Surely there would be a lot of women interested in him. Was that where he went when he was not with her? Some girl from a lost island with an easy smile that would make him feel loved as she could never do? that would open her heart to a demigod hero of all? Someone like Arona, who knew how to lure the boys into her nets with soft words and humorous compliments, with all the knowledge it would take for a man to fall at her feet.

She frowned. Arona had been asking a lot of things, too many and that bothered her deeply, why so much interest in Maui? Or was it just in sex? It was time to dispel doubts.

"Humm Maui," she whispered hesitantly, he answered with a questioning grunt, "Do you remember Arona? That girl that you signed a couple of autographs in Motunui."

"Mmmm, one with freckles?"

"No, well, that's not the point, she's a girl on my island."

"What's wrong with her?"

"She asked me questions, you know, about you."

"Obviously," he said in a confident tone, "tell her I'll answer all the questions she want next time."

The fact that Arona got to ask such questions to Maui made the hair on the nape of her neck bristle and made her tighten her jaw.

"I don't think you should. She was asking questions about us."

This time Maui reacted by raising his head to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

"You mean she realized we're not really married?"

"Oh no, it's quite the opposite. She asks for details of our private life and has been chasing me for weeks."

He frowned.

"What kind of questions?"

"She asked me about, you know... if you were big... those things."

Maui's eyes widened in surprise.

"I didn't see that coming."

"And other questions I didn't understand," she shrugged. "In Motunui everyone has sex classes but they never let me go for being the chief's daughter. That's why I wanted to ask you."

Maui's face became a serious grimace, his posture tensed.

"I don't know if this is a conversation we should have, maybe your mother..."

"My mother has already explained to me about the eel and the cave," Moana interrupted, a little annoyed at not getting to the point.

"Eel? Cave? What are we talking about?"

"You know, men have an eel and women a cave." Maui was stunned for a few moments trying to analyze what he had just heard.

"Where the hell am I going to hide an e-? Oh" he had begun to gesticulate with his hands, but when he realized it he stopped and plunged back into the mud. Mini Maui looked very amused with the idea by covering his mouth with his hands to hide his laughter.

"That's the only thing I know, and Arona's questions became increasingly strange. I would at least like know what she was talking about. I can't ask anyone in my tribe, it's not a decent subject and my parents “have already told me everything”" she punctuated with air quotes.

Decidedly, she stood up and walked towards him. The mud on her skin covered her entire body to her shoulders so she felt no shame as she stood in front of Maui with her hands on her hips. "So you'll have to teach me."

A huge clay ball hit her in the face, knocking her back into the mud. She came out completely covered and coughing up the little she had ingested from the surprise, wiping her tongue and spitting with disgust. She pulled the mud from her eyes with her hands and looked at Maui with a frown.

"Why did you do that?"

"Have you come back to reason yet?" Moana gave him a hard look. "Because you can't be serious."

"I'm serious. Who else am I going to ask? You are my husband."

"This is a arranged marriage."

"But you're my friend."

"Exactly. Friends don't teach other friends about... about... _eels and caves_."

"Why not?"

"Because not, plain and simple; _do not_. You can't ask me that."

"Why?"

"We're friends, Moana, friends don't do this. It's private, it's personal."

"We're married," she said. "I can't learn this from anyone else."

"This," he pointed them, "is a farce, you can learn from whomever you want."

"But I don't want to learn from anyone but you. You taught me to sail. Why can't you teach me this?"

"It's not something that can be done by chatting at a campfire."

"I know, I'm fine with it."

"But I _do not_ and this is final. You don't have any experience, you do not even know what it's called or what needs to be done. Tell me have you ever had a moment alone with you?"

Moana blinked.

"Humm..."

Maui gasped, dazed.

"You don't even know what I'm talking about, don't you? I'm talking about discovering your own body, of knowing yourself before you get into a situation that you don't know or can't control."

"But I know myself."

Maui looked bored.

"Tell me, where is that cave from where the eel enters?"

"Humm for... you know... between the legs?"

Moana was sure that if Maui didn't have muddy hands right now he would have facepalmed himself.

"You got it from a song, didn't you? I mean it, you have to learn about yourself first. What your body likes, what you like and then, over time, you will find someone to learn the rest or to teach you what you need or want to know."

"But I don't have anyone else to go to."

"You'll do. What's the hurry? You're still young." Moana turned her head thoughtfully, she was really interested in learning, even if out of curiosity, what was it that was whispered so much at night and was so forbidden to mention?

Mini Maui took advantage of Moana's distraction to hit Maui's chest. He lowered his gaze with a raised eyebrow and the small tattoo pointed at Moana and then at one of the faceless figures of his other tattoos. A light bulb went on in his head. Moana's new attitude was strange, these questions were the rarest-apart from uncomfortable-and out of place. There was only one thing that had changed since the last time he saw her: The new man. Everything worked out. It was also obvious that the young man felt something for her too. All he had to do was watch them speak so that all the pieces would coincide. He gave a funny snort that alerted the young woman.

"Okay, I'll help you."

Her face lit up.

"Seriously?"

"Of course, for that I am."

Moana almost jumped on the spot from excitement.

"And what about all that of discovering herself?"

"Oh, you also have to do it, but it doesn't mean that you can't learn with someone else, right?" He winked at her.

"Great! When do we start? What do I have to do?"

"The first thing is to go and take a bath. It's going to be scary to wipe all that mud off your hair."

"Yes, thanks to someone, and then?"

"Then we'll wait." Moana looked a little hesitant.

"We wait?"

"Yep, the rush is never good. You have to wait for the best moment."

"Hmmm, you're the expert, I guess."

Maui snapped her tongue at her.

"Exactly."

He turned and left the bog, shaking his hands so that the moist mud would come off.

"Where we go?" Moana asked hesitantly.

"Not far, we have to clean before we get back."

He left Moana still in the quagmire and approached the edge of the grove to tear off a pair of huge palm leaves.

Carefully he placed these on the ground and trying not to make a greater disaster he took Moana's clothes and put them between a pair of leaves so they wouldn't get dirty.

"Wipe your hands and hand me my sheet skirt."

Moana swallowed but left the mud and shook her hands imitating Maui. She grasped the heap of leaves of the skirt, noticing something heavy inside. Carefully she pulled aside a pair and saw the bone knife to which Maui had made a sheath to hide it. She smiled, not daring to touch it for fear of getting it dirty and held it over her shoulder. At the end Maui rolled up the leaves, creating a safe container and sat up.

"Did you get my pendant?"

"Yeah." He turned and Moana tensed, bowing her head in shame and covering her lap with little dissimulation. Maui seemed to notice it because he went back to the palm trees and pulled out another sheet and handed it to her. Moana lifted her head sheepishly and smiled at him, grabbing the leave and sticking it to her bare chest.

"Thank you," she whispered a little blushing.

"Don't worry. Come on, we have to go for water, the mud is rubbing my thighs raw."

Maui walked in front, leaving Moana behind to give her more privacy, something she was grateful for. After several minutes of walking they began to hear a dull roar in the distance that became more and more and more strident as they approached.

Maui exclaimed cheerfully as she stepped into the clearing, he couldn't remember where he was, but had finally found their destination. In front of them was a small waterfall. The water fell profusely making a large amount of white foam that disappeared once it reached the small lake of crystal clear turquoise water in front of them.

"Is it hot water too?"

"Nah, this is just to remove the mud, we'll go to the hot springs later."

He trotted to the bank and made a strong dive. In the middle of the jump he shapeshifted and a huge white shark fell into the water, disappearing deep. Moana went to look and saw the dark muddy fog spread out. Then another light gray figure appeared swimming quietly beneath the crystalline surface.

Carefully she sat on the rocks and stuck her foot in the water. The mud dissipated in a matter of seconds leaving her dark skin completely clean. She looked back at the shark with a little apprehension. On the island she had bathed with her parents and her people until she reached puberty and had been taught to just clean herself in private as a responsible adult. Now she was alone with a man, her husband, who had assured her that he was going to teach her about the most private relationships between two people. Was this what she should expect?

Maui's head came out of the water with a loud gasp as he sucked in air. The hair went over his head until it fell onto his shoulders, sticking to his face.

"Come on, the water is incredible," he called, waving his hand. Without waiting for an answer, he turned and swam toward the waterfall, leaving her some privacy.

Moana slipped from the rock and made a quick dive, dropping the leaves that had covered her on the shore. Once under the water she untangled her bun and tousled it with her hands to remove as much mud as possible. When she began to run out of air she stood up until the head was out and she looked around. She was alone.

"Maui?" She turned on herself, searching for her friend.

"Chee ho!" She looked up to see the demigod falling into the water a few feet away, creating a huge splash around her. Moana let out a chuckle that was accompanied by Maui when he resurfaced again.

"Where did you jump from?" She asked, brushing her hair away from her face.

"Next to the waterfall there's a small ledge to climb to the top." He shrugged. "It seemed like fun."

They shared a few laughs and went to the rocks to clear the remaining mud. Moana tried to stay deep enough not to show more than her clothes did but it was obvious that Maui's clothing was of little importance and he had leaned against one of the stones on the riverbank humming happily.

She had turned her back on him and tried to comb and rinse the mud and dirt from her hair with her fingers, making little moans of pain as she caught a knot.

"This doesn't come out" she complained seconds later rubbing her hair together.

"Come here."

She glanced over her shoulder, her eyes wide with alarm.

"Uh?"

"Come here." He patted the water in front of him. "I'm going to give you a hand."

Moana thought for a few seconds but decided to swim toward him.

"It was your fault after all," she accused him quietly.

"Yes, yes, and I will fix it. Don't I always fix my disasters?"

Moana ignored the question and turned around in front of him so he could access her hair. Maui's hands moved at once, stroking each strand of hair minutely. He was efficacious and careful trying to untangle each curl and knot with utmost care. Moana, however, was with her mind elsewhere. In a part a few centimeters from it to be exact. Maui was naked, both were naked, together, side by side. He had promised to help her, but at this moment she didn't feel ready, she didn't even know what to do, and what if Maui was right about waiting?  
  


"Curly?" she had been so distracted that she hadn't heard that he had been talking to her but an arm on her shoulders made her react and jump, tensing and shrinking a little on herself looking at Maui over her shoulder.

He had withdrawn his hand as if it burned and looked at her worriedly.

"Are you ok? I'm sorry if I scared you," Moana denied, her hair dancing loose and clean around her.

"No, I'm sorry... it's just... I've never been so close to a man being naked."

Maui smiled sadly.

"I know, sorry."

"No, it’s alright." She moved closer to him. "I know it's ridiculous, we're friends and I've asked you... you know..."  she lowered her head, "and yet I don't know if I can..."

"Mo, I understand," Maui whispered.

"But it's ridiculous, you look comfortable. It's so casual for you."

"In my defense I will say that my skirt is only about three thousand years old. When I was born people didn't used to wear clothes. I dressed so that they stopped pointing at me in the villages and because the fight is easier. Believe me, once I put on that skirt I knew I could not live without it."

Moana laughed a little shyly.

"When the girls bathed there were many kids trying to look at them, that's why my parents wouldn't let me out to the river without a supervisor, and you don't seem to care. You haven't even looked at me once."

Maui's sigh made her look at him.

"I've been millennia looking at naked bodies all around me. They are nothing new to me. The boys on your island are young with the hormones. They are horney and heard exaggerated stories about things they don't understand. The body is nothing more than that: a body. It is the tool that uses our spirit to fulfill our dreams and desires in this world. Our bodies serve to learn to be human. Feel the pain of what will teach us respect and empathy for the pain of others; Feel the embrace of a mother to teach us what love is. It isn't to be sexualized by anyone and less without consent or reciprocity. Everything has its function and its reason for being and none is for the pleasure of someone other than that of oneself. Mortals hardly understand. They learn over time, knowing oneself and getting to know others."

"That's... so deep," she whispered in awe as she lowered her head. Maui grabbed her chin to make her look at him.

"I am your friend, never think that I will harm you in any way, nor will I treat you differently for your body. This- "he pointed to the temple," and this-" pointed out his heart," are all that matters.

Moana couldn't resist and she threw herself into his neck hugging him tightly. Maui took a few seconds to respond but did so with equal intensity. She could feel his naked body pressed against hers: every muscle, every curve, every pore of skin. And it was perfect, it felt good, it was right. She let go of the hug, smiling broadly. Maui showed his large, gap-toothed smile

"Now it's time to go back to your people." Maui started to lift her out of the water. Moana chuckled again and left the pool in complete safety and unashamedly with Maui following closely behind her, picking up the hook he had left on the stone next to him.

Moana grabbed her top and placed it on her back, preparing it to wrap around her chest. It was then that she saw Maui a few yards away, picking up the ropes that would tie his skirt. That was not what caught her attention though: he was still completely naked and this time she had a complete view of him. His tattoos began on his leg and went up to his hips extending all over his torso. That would have been the thing that would have impressed her but there was something new that caught her attention.

Unfortunately for her, Maui noticed her observation and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Moana cleared her throat by looking down at him and compulsively. Maui sighed, bored.

"Let it go."

Moana took a few seconds to respond and when she did so her voice was barely an audible whisper.

"What?"

"That is the…? you know..." she gestured to his bottom. Maui rolled his eyes but still picked up the skirt and walked towards her without shame. Despite all the embarrassment she felt, Moana remembered his words: Maui would never do anything she didn't want or agree with. So it was; The demigod sat in front of her within inches.

"No, there's no eel, never. It is a simile that adults use to explain to children about sex. It is called _penis_ or _dick_ , whichever you like."

"Oh... and that is what you put... inside?"

"Look, I told you I'd help you, okay? Don't make it even harder for me. I am telling you this because if you go calling it eel around it will cause more of a misunderstanding. Men have _penis_ and women _pussy_ , there is no cave. Understood?"

"Yes I think…"

"You'll understand better when you get to practice," Moana swallowed bitterly. She had asked for it, but she wasn't exactly convinced. "For now we are finished. It's your turn to do your duties. Duties to do in private and in a comfortable place."

"But I don't know what to do."

"Nobody starts knowing. No two women are equal, you must learn yourself with practice and time. Believe me, it's like swimming, you never forget it once you get the rhythm."

"Okay."

"Now we have to get ready. Let's go before nightfall."

Moana even wondered how Maui could go so smoothly from a taboo conversation to an analysis of the weather without even being disheveled.

They dressed separately and returned to the village following the voices heard in the distance. When they arrived it was nearly dusk and the people had lit a fire where they met, preparing the dinner. Sina and Tui greeted them with a forced smile and a nod. Moana looked at Maui with suspicion for their attitude but he just shrugged and went to get something to eat.

"Where have you been?" Asked a voice at her side. Siaki looked at her with a frown and annoying attitude.

"I was with Maui," she said quietly, not knowing why he would ask.

"Is he here? I have to ask him something."

Moana looked where the demigod had just gone and nodded.

"Yes, he's gone for food, he'll be back soon."

"I'll wait," he said decisively.

"Sure, let's sit down then," she pointed to the group that was starting to crowd in to serve their ration.

"Actually, I'd like us to be private." This time his attitude was a little nervous.

"Hm, okay, okay, we're staying here." She sat up somewhat uneasily at the question Siaki had in mind and let him sit next to her in silence. She certainly wasn't prepared for more questions about her non-existent private life. Maui arrived minutes later with a handful of fruit and a couple of roasted fish fillets wrapped in leaves.

He opened his mouth at the sight of them, but Siaki stepped forward to his feet.

"I have a request to make of you," his shoulders were tense and firm and he raised his head trying to get a more dominant attitude. Maui raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, shoot."

"I'd like you to let me court Moana."

Moana exclaimed, getting ready for any reaction. Maui, contrary to what she had thought, let out a laugh.

"You're wrong, kid, you have to ask he..." He broke off with a groan of pain and looked at Mini Maui, then noticed the situation. "But," he said, dragging the words," I'm sure she'll be delighted."

"What?" Moana shouted, stepping forward. "Maui!"

"I insist.” Taking advantage of their closeness he filled her arms with all the food he had brought and left the leaves with the fish to Siaki. "Have a good time." He winked at them, then hummed cheerfully toward the group.

"Look, I can't…" Moana stammered, not knowing how to react.

"I know, I know we just met and we started bad, but I don't ask for much. Just spend some time with me to see how it goes," he said with total sincerity. Moana sighed.

"I don't even know where to start..."

"Dinner?" He asked, holding out the fish that Maui had given him. That made both of them smile.

"Good idea."

"Do you mind if... you know, let's go for a walk?"

"Hmm, of course, that's fine."

Maui was sitting with another fish fillet untouched. He watched them walk down the beach along the shore until they disappeared into the night. He sighed and looked at mini Maui.

"I hope you're right," he murmured. He passed the fish to one of the elders who were seated at his side. He had completely lost his appetite.

 

* * *

 

 

"... and he didn't mind losing his hook," Moana whispered, sitting on the beach in the light of the full moon. Water licking their feet with each wave. Siaki and her had spent a long time together talking in the dark. At first she was unsure and nervous but Siaki seemed to want to know just a little more about her and her adventures. They had walked a few meters for more privacy and had sat down to finish eating while retelling their adventure restoring the heart of Te Fiti.

"Sounds very brave," Siaki continued. She smiled happily that he was interested in her story and the memories of that moment when the great hawk saved her from the claws of the lava demon.

"He is." She shrugged her arms around her knees. "He was afraid of dying but still did what he had to do to save us all."

"It looks like he was going to save you." Moana shook her head, her lips turned in a sad smile.

"Maui is the hero of all. Restoring the heart was going to save mankind."

"Yes, but he could have taken the heart and restored it by leaving you there. Instead he faced the demon knowing that it was going to be an impossible match."

A chill ran over Moana and she tightened her grip on her knees. Maui could have died that day.

"Are you cold?" She heard Siaki's worried whisper. At first she was going to deny it but she was really rather tired and upset with Maui for deciding for her on an issue like this. They were supposed to be married and shouldn't have any kind of relationship with third parties. She just wanted to go back to the tribe to sleep and to kick some demigods in the butt. She would teach him.

"Actually, yes," she apologized with a smile, "and I'm a bit tired."

Siaki nodded and sat up, giving her hand to help her get up. It was then that he realized how close they were. She looked up to meet those dark eyes looking at her in the night. Siaki slowly leaned toward her. Barely having felt his breath on her lips, she took a step backward, pulling away.

"I'm sorry, I can't." He let her go, a little hurt.

"Why not? Is because of Maui?"

"What? No! I mean, yes," she complained softly at the little sense she was having. "Maui is my husband. I'm married to him," she explained.

"Married to Maui? But he is a demigod, he is millions of years old."

"Only a few thousand," she said, still meaningless.

"Why did he let me leave with you?" She sighed in apprehension and her shoulders fell. Siaki grimaced when he saw that he had touched on an important point.

"It's... complicated." She looked into his eyes, not knowing if she could trust him. "Our relationship is... we are better friends than a couple."

"You mean...?" He left the sentence half-hearted, not knowing how to finish it.

"We're married, but it was a marriage of convenience." She looked away with anger, clenching her teeth. "You’d think he was doing me a favor."

Siaki smiled at her attitude.

"I think someone's going to get a big rebuke."

"Oh, yes, someone is going to wish he wasn't immortal."

Both shared a laugh that ended in a comfortable silence.

"Come on, I'll take you back, so they don't worry."

They walked in silence back to the camp. Every step she took extended her anger and her throat clenched as if she had a fist gripping her heart. Why would Maui do that to her? Decide for her about a boy! Who did he think he was?

When they arrived they said goodbye with a whisper of good night and each one went to look for thier place to sleep. Moana was looking for Maui in the shadows of the bonfire ready to jump in his face when she saw him. He was with Pua on his stomach a couple of feet from her parents in a small bed that he had created with leaves and digging a little in the sand. What struck her most was that he was sleeping on his back with one hand over Pua and the other stretched out in an empty void waiting for a small figure to fill it. She squeezed her eyes tightly, trying to control the mixture of emotions in her chest. Even asleep Maui had made a place for her. He had ignored their marriage to give her the almost compulsory choice of dating a young man of her age and there he was, unconsciously waiting for her, why couldn't that be enough? Why couldn't they just be two against the world as it had always been? She walked awkwardly toward the alcove and lay down with her back to him, resting her head on his arm. The contact woke Maui with a leap and turned toward her. Pua moaned in his sleep, opened one eye, and jumped down from Maui to take a couple of spins to the side and fell back asleep.

"Mo? What are you doing here?" he had hoped that the little date of the two young people would have led her to spend the night with him, or at least to come back later. Moana remained silent. A horrible sensation settled in the demigod's lower belly "Moana?" He laid a hand gently on her shoulder and she tensed. Fire spread through every cell of his body and before he could figure it out he was grunting coldly. "What did he do to you? I'm going to kill that little rat!" he tried to sit up, but Moana turned around as she understood the misunderstanding and rested her hands on his chest.

"No, I'm fine, Maui, we just talked."

Maui's breathing was uneven and restrained, furious. It took a few seconds to get back to normal.

"What happened?"

"I should ask the same question," she demanded. Maui sank into his place, now completely relaxed, lying on his side to stand in front of her letting her use his arm as a pillow.

"I told you I'd help you. I saw that this was a great opportunity."

Moana blinked.

"Help me?"

"Yeah, you know, with the new guy and sex. I know you like him and I thought you wanted me to teach you to get close to him. I was going to help you out with him so he could teach you everything you wanted."

"What?" She exclaimed.

When she heard a sudden snort she covered her mouth as if she could return the sound to her lips and waited for anyone who had woken up to go back to sleep.

"I was going to give you the chance to..."

"Shut up," she growled quietly, cutting off whatever he was about to say. "I told you to help me by showing me what sex is. Not that you will help me out with anyone. I'm fine as I am, I don't need anyone."

"But we thought you liked it," he excused himself.

"You and who else?" Mini Maui appeared behind an island and hid quickly. "Really?"

"Don't blame him. You were very close to the new kid, even your parents noticed."

"I was happy because he stopped treating me badly for being a woman and head of my tribe, what do my parents have to do with all this?"

"When you left, they told me that he approached them to ask to court you, but they told him to ask us," Moana stammered, trying to find words that told her how incredibly stupid that was.

"But we're married, they know it, they were there."

"Not again... This-"

She interrupted him.

"If you say it's a fake marriage again, I'll hit you with the hook." Maui rolled his eyes.

"But it is. That boy was a good chance for you to have a normal life."

"But I don't want-!" she stopped speaking as she realized her tone and continued in a low voice. "I don't want a normal life. I like my life as it is. I have my people, my parents, my travels, the ocean, Pua, even Hei Hei, and I have you, I don't need or want anyone else. I asked you to teach me because I want to learn, not for anyone but me and because I really feel stupid when I'm nineteen and I still don't know anything about the subject when the rest of the children in my tribe learn about it in classes at Schools. That is all. I don't want more."

"Moana..."

"If you're going to give me a talk about how young I am and the people I'll meet, shut up. I don't want to hear any more of that."

Maui sighed in defeat and she smiled a little more relieved at having talked things over.

"I guess I can't make you change your mind."

"Never."

Maui smiled.

"Sleep time then.

"It's the first time I've heard you say such a clever thing," she yawned, ignoring the nasty grin that Maui gave her for the mockery. She pressed herself against his chest and closed her eyes, waiting for the dream to take her. Maui slowly passed his other arm over her waist.

"Maui."

"Humm?"

"You still have to teach me."

"Go to sleep," he said, tapping her on the side.

"You promised," she murmured sleepily.

If Maui answered she was already asleep by then.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for your reviews! 
> 
> Fanart:  
> ["Moana, however, was with her mind elsewhere."](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/post/161865553071/moana-however-was-with-her-mind-elsewhere) by [MagicFishHook](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Don't forget to follow my artblog on tumblr for more Hooked Wayfinder (Moana/Maui) fanarts!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To start, I regret the delay in publishing this week A LOT. I write in Spanish and my husband translates and proofreads to English. He has been ill this week and was unable to help. He sends his sincere apologies as well.  
> In this chapter there are topics related to politics that are purely invented or adapted from other books or culture. If you see any cultural fault, please tell me, I would love to be able to make it more real.  
> This fic is finished, it has 14 chapters and an epilogue (15 chapters) that I will publish - if there are no more setbacks- weekly, but I would love to have a beta reader to help us, if you're interested message me, please.  
> I hope you enjoy this chapter and hope that the relationship that grows between Moana and Maui is credible. 
> 
> ***THIS CHAPTER HAS A NSFW FANART***

Moana pulled hard on the rope, raising the sail of the canoe under the command of a group that was making sure it was fully fixed. They had spent about a week on the island with repairs and enjoying this little paradise. Some had even begun to build small huts to shelter at night. The tribe spent mornings for repairs and production and search for food, in the afternoons they relaxed in their little thermal bath and at night they enjoyed a feast and the comfort of the talks in the communal area.

Taking advantage of her people being productive, self-sufficient, happy and satisfied, Maui and her had disappeared every afternoon for another mud bath or playing in the waterfall. She was still amazed at the comfort she felt in front of her friend. What had started being uncomfortable and a little strange now was normal and pleasant. She enjoyed playing in the water with Maui, jumping from the waterfall without having to worry about clothing or modesty. They spent hours laughing and joking, swimming, jumping, chasing and having fun without worrying about having to cover or looking at her in reproach for having a _puhi_ without clothes. They spent one afternoon on the bank talking about their tattoos and the next ones she wanted to get. Maui had listened attentively giving a little advice and looking at every trace of bare skin that she pointed out without shame. Moana appreciated the fact that he never made a gesture to touch her. It was hard for her to be comfortable enough to be naked in front of him, inappropriate physical contact at that time would have fired a flare of nervousness in her. It hadn’t mattered as they played or swam, it had been okay to climb onto his shoulders so he would throw her over his head or grab hold of her waist to push her across the lake. But in that moment so intimate, sitting on the shore with nothing to cover and looking at each other without doing anything but talking about their own bodies would have been too much for her. Not even she understood it herself. She longed for Maui to teach her, was eager for knowledge and knew the theory, more or less. She knew that the practice was going to be something very personal and intimate, something that she had never shared with anyone. On the one hand she longed for it but on the other she feared it.

"Is it fixed?" she asked, tying the rope to the spar to keep the sail open.

"There's a little tear on the top, but we can fix it," they said from the boat.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, thank you, Moana."

She nodded and turned to return to the camp where a group of elders had gathered to sew new ropes to replace the one’s they broke during the storm. She saw her mother sitting with the group helping one of the old women with trembling hands.

"Mom, where's Dad?"

"I think he's in the jungle looking for more vines. Is there a problem?"

"No, the boats are almost ready. It’s to confirm that we can leave in two days" she heard a pessimistic groan from the group of elders.

She loves her island but she had to admit that this small island had brought her not only new discoveries and great moments, but also a small paradise to explore, full of hidden corners and new and delicious fruits. She couldn’t help but understand the lack of motivation to leave such a place. Especially those who were the ones who had spent time in the hot springs.

"Hey!" Exclaimed Sina, "Motunui is not so bad either."

There was a bunch of discouraged inaudible murmurs. Sina opened her mouth to answer them but closed with an indignant _click_. Moana chuckled.

"I'll go get him," she said happily, and went into the wild vegetation.

Soon she heard voices arguing animatedly in the distance.

"Dad," she said, waving at him, he was with a lot of natural cords rolled up in his arms.

"Hello, Moana, is something wrong?" He asked without looking at her. He had to be attentive to the heights as there were several young men who had climbed the trees to remove the vines.

"No, I just wanted to tell you that the boats are almost ready. We can leave in a couple of days" she could perceive with a sideways glance as several heads turned towards her with sad faces.

"Okay, good news, have you managed to fix the broken mast of the third canoe?"

"They're having a little trouble with that, but Kaikoa has told me It will be ready by then." Kaikoa had been grateful that Moana would save his friend. Not enough to change his attitude but after a hard rebuke from Siaki on Moana’s behalf, made him realize that it was a better idea not to reply harshly to the leader of the tribe. Now he was another active member and obeyed every order and willingly accepted his responsibilities.

"We could leave it here if we didn’t get it to stay afloat," Tui replied decisively. "I don’t want to endanger anyone."

"It'll be fine, we'll make it safe to sail."

"Perfect," a liana snaked out of the tree, and Tui took it with precision, adding it to the long strand in his arms. "We're done for today!" He informed everyone who was still working. "Let's go back to the camp."

Moana helped him with a few creepers and they both walked to the beach to leave them in the hands of the elders who would weave them.

"Let's stop for today," Sina told them. "We are preparing something to eat and then we will return to the hot springs. The boys have almost finished with the canoes so until then it will be relaxing."

"Okay, tonight when we are all we will announce that we will leave in a few days."

"Dad," Moana said to him. "I have noticed that there are people who don’t want to leave, what if we let a group stay and mount a colony? " Tui frowned.

"You can’t stay, Motunui needs you."

"No, not me, another chief, someone of confidence and who wants to stay. It is a good island and could serve in the future for trade. It just needs a village to work on it and get the best of it." Her father looked at her for an endless second to finally nod.

"You were born for this," he said proudly, giving her a half smile. "I'll ask who they want to stay and so we can choose who can be a good head for their tribe."

"That's fine, I'll wait for the news. If we're done for today," she pointed to the beach.

Tui and Sina chuckled.

"Go, have a good time." Moana ran down the beach without hesitation.

"I will, I'll see you later!" she shouted as she walked away. Her parents looked at her knowingly. They had been with the tribe all week, and they had noticed their daughter sneak away for hours with a certain demigod and hadn’t been able to squeeze out where to yet. They had been a little worried about the situation once Siaki came to ask about the hand of their daughter. Moana was married, married to her best friend, neither of which had ever shown any kind of feeling other than pure friendship. They feared they had sentenced Moana to a life without the possibility of a romantic relationship and saw a small opportunity with the new and interested young man. An opportunity she set aside because, for her, there was nothing more important than her town, her friends and Maui. She was living her life as she had wanted to live it and if that made her happy, they didn’t need anything else.

Moana came to Maui who was chatting cheerfully with Ehehene. She paused a couple of paces so as to not interrupt the conversation, waiting for the demigod to notice her presence.

"If you don’t tighten the knot you could get off course in the middle of the night. A sailor shouldn’t fall asleep but accidents happen. So, if you do fall asleep, tie the knot tightly and when you wake up you will see that you have not lost yourself too much."

"And there is no way to avoid sleeping?"

"A  refreshing dip is always a good idea but you can end up with a cold" Maui looked over his shoulder alerted by a movement and saw Moana.

"Hello, Moana," Ehehene said happily.

"Hi, I came to tell you that we are going to leave in a couple of days and that we have stopped for today." She looked directly at Maui so he would know she was waiting for him to finish so they could leave together.

"So soon?" Ehehene pouted.

"Talk to my father, we're going to gather the group that wants to stay."

"You’re telling me that I can stay here?"

"Sure, you're the third best sailor we have. They're going to need you, are not, Maui?" she said, nudging his stomach.

Ehehene almost jumped from the recognition.

"That would be great, I'm going to go talk to Tui now. Thanks, Moana" before she had time to respond he had already run up the beach.

"All that  energy," Maui teased. "He reminds me of a certain girl I know with curly hair."

Moana chuckled.

"Have you finished yet? Can we go?"

"I think..."

A newcomer interrupted.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, but we have a problem with one of the canoes." He pointed to a huge ship with pictures of fish and nets painted on the sails. "It has run aground on the sand and we can’t get it out. I think the hull is broken and buried too deep. Could you lift it out?"

"I'm going now," Maui said, waited for the boy to nod, and left to go back to Moana. "Go, okay? I'll go as soon as I finish."

"All right, don’t delay."

Maui winked and followed the young man onto the boat. Moana went in the opposite direction into the jungle. She heard footsteps behind her and turned to see Pua following her.

"Wait on the beach, Pua, we will not be long, okay?" The little pig pouted with his big eyes full of tears. "Oh no! Don’t look at me like that, it hasn’t worked before. It will only be until we return to the sea."

Pua lowered his sagging head, his ears dangling lovably.

"Look," Moana leaned over to whisper. "Go see Mom and ask her for something to eat. Tell her I sent you." She winked. Pua jumped with joy and ran to the beach without looking back, leaving Moana alone in the jungle with a smile. She turned and continued toward the interior of the island. They had been so long in their secret place that they knew by heart how to get there no matter how far or difficult it was. She had adored this small intimate space. It was going to be the last chance to be in the waterfall before they had to start the preparations for the trip and she was sure that when the residents would take their time discovering the island they would find it and would no longer be a place for them next time they come back.

She reached the waterfall and went to the shore to sit and put her feet in the water. She was going to miss this island, not as much as her heart missed Motunui, but had spent many happy and fun moments in this same lake. She gave a small melancholy sigh. No doubt it had been nice times with her friend and knew that that was not going to change, Maui and she would have moments like that wherever they went because that's what they did, but would it be the same? She had learned a lot from Maui this past week, she had been comfortable with him to a level she didn’t know if she was going to be brave enough to repeat in Motunui. Would she really be able to get back to the routine and be in front of him with nothing covering her as she had done in this place? Here it seemed that they were two different people, they were Maui and Moana but at the same time they hadn’t been. There had been an intimacy and comfort she had never felt with anyone. She shrank in embarrassment as she reminded herself that she had asked him for something very intimate. Would Maui really help her?

He said that the first thing was to get to know oneself to find out what the body enjoys but she hadn’t had a single moment of intimacy since she arrived. She had been with her people, with Pua, sometimes with Siaki and almost always with Maui. They had slept together, awakened together, gathering fruits and eating together, helping with the repairs, afternoons playing in the lake... Right now it was the only moment alone she had had since she arrived. She raised her head and looked over her shoulder to see if there was a sign of Maui. When she saw the empty jungle she stood up and quickly undressed. She left the clothes far enough away from the water to keep them from getting wet, something she had already learned from experience. The clothes would get soaked when Maui jumped out of the waterfall if they were at an unsafe distance. She left the wreath on top of her skirt and slipped into the water slowly. She waited for her body to get accustomed to the coolness against her skin and sat propping her back against the rocks. Maui had told her that before learning anything she had to know herself, touch herself and find out what she liked. She bent her head to see her knees protruding from the surface and she sighed, lowering her hands down her chest. She pinched one nipple avoiding a chill of pleasure, pinched the other with the same feeling of cramp closing her eyes by the impulse. She opened them to see the gap between her thighs and dragged a hand up the valley between her legs. She felt the small bulge that trembled at the touch of her fingers. She stroked the area slowly trying to figure out what she liked most about it. Her frown creased as she noted with the tip of the index finger the small opening. That was the cav... pussy of which Maui spoke to her? She gently probed the entrance with her fingers, letting out a small moan as one entered too much. It was very small, barely two fingers fit. Was that where Maui would come in? There was no way, she had seen him naked, it was impossible for that to happen. He was not only too big, he was also flaccid. It would bend and flop trying to get in there, would it not?

 _‘Maybe with his fingers_ ,’ she thought. Maui had big fingers, everything in him was huge. She tried to push her fingers but a painful barrier made her recoil with a moan. This was stupid. She didn’t feel any of the sensations she was supposed to feel. Her body had to feel like it was in flames according to the songs and stories, and what if it was her problem? What if she was the one that was wrong and that was why she had been excluded from the lessons on the island? She brushed her hands away from her and hugged her knees.

She heard a fluttering sound, saw a bright spark and a splash in the water. Lifting her head, she saw Maui approaching her with the hook on his shoulder. The smile disappeared from his face at the sight of her expression.

"All good?"

She lowered her eyes with a whisper.

Maui stepped closer to her and nudged her gently with the hook in the same way she had done long ago with the oar.

"What's wrong?"

"I've tried, it's useless."

"What?"

"What you told me, to know myself. It doesn’t work, I don’t know what's wrong with me."

Maui let out an exasperated sigh.

"Nothing is wrong with you." He sat down beside her, leaving the hook on the rocks behind them. "You're young, you just need to learn."

"And how will I learn if I don’t know what I'm doing? I've touched myself, I feel nothing," she confronted him furiously. He was the one who stated all the nonsense about knowing herself. She had already done it, and she hadn’t felt anything.

"How many times have you tried?"

Moana avoided his gaze with a small blush.

"Now."

"Once is not enough, not even close."

"Maybe if you helped me like you said you would," she confronted him, realizing what she had said, her shoulders sagged. "Look, forget it, okay? This is nonsense -" she stood up ready to leave the small lagoon."

"All right," a voice rasped behind her, "come here."

Moana looked at him stupefied over her shoulder. Maui stirred in his seat, annoyed.

"Are you coming or not?" Without hesitation she went back into the water and walked to stand before him at a safe distance. "I can’t do anything from there."

Moana swallowed.

"Aren’t you going to take your clothes off?" Maui raised an eyebrow, his face serious.

"No." He made a gesture for her to sit in front of him.

She turned and sat between his legs at a considerable distance. Maui exhaled and grabbed her by the waist to draw her toward him. She gasped, tensing at the touch, but she relaxed when the only thing her partner did was bring her close enough to end up sitting between his thighs with her back against his torso.

"All good?"

Moana nodded nervously, staring at the waterfall.

"Yes," she said shakily.

"Relax, this is a class."

"Yes," she repeated a little more confidently.

"I want you to remember it. This is something that’s going to happen only once, once you know how to do it you have to do it alone or with your partner."

"Yes" Maui rolled his eyes at the repetitive response.

"The security word is _sharkhead_."

"Why do we need a security word?"

"If you're nervous and you want to stop."

"Is it not easier to say _no_ and that's it?"

"The _no_ is used often enough in this type of situation and is not usually taken seriously."

"Oh," she still had a lot to learn.

"Now, where have you touched?"

"Humm everywhere."

"Great, with those details I'll know exactly where to start," he said sarcastically. "Let me change the question, what did you like?"

"My breasts," she said decisively, then fell silent thoughtfully and said in an almost inaudible murmur. "Also between my thighs, I think."

"That is good."

"But it hurt."

"What?"

"My eh… pussy."

"What you mean it hurt?"

"I've tried... you know," she reached across the water, showing two fingers for a moment and hiding them with embarrassment.

"Oh... it's because you're a virgin, that area is called vagina. The first time it hurts." Moana tensed again, looking over her shoulder, worried.

"Is it going to hurt?" Maui looked at her with open eyes of surprise until he realized what the question was asking.

"No, not this time. This is like one of the classes your Motunui friends have had, there's going to be no penetration."

"Then, what are we going to do?"

"Teach you."

"What?" Maui exhaled a bit annoying.

"We'd finish sooner if you'd leave the questions for later." Moana clucked her mouth and shrugged to herself. "That's better, well, let's start. With your left hand open your lips."

Moana, who had almost been shaking in her place of nervousness, suddenly stopped and looked over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow.

"My lips?" She raised a hand to touch her mouth. Maui facepalmed sonorously and rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"This is going to be worse than I thought. Okay, from the beginning" sighed and leaned on the rocks letting her do it over him. "Put your hand between your legs."

Moana obeyed somewhat indecisively.

"Well, what you're feeling are the outer lips, if you open them you'll find two folds that are the smaller lips and a small protrusion, touch it." Moana's legs jerked as her fingertip touched the sensitive tip. He nodded in satisfaction, having waited for this reaction. "That is an erogenous point, what you have to do is easy: With the left hand open the outer lips and with the right hand rub it around. Not too strong, let it slide. The water for this is good but you can always use saliva or oils."

She obeyed him silently, touching it with two fingers, let out a sigh, and shuddered.

"Try now to rub in circles" hearing a small moan he smiled. "Yes, well done, perfect, continue like this" she stretched her legs trying to have a better position to continue with her mission, how could she have missed something like that of her own body? Her knees shook with every touch and she couldn’t stop the sighs coming out of her mouth. It felt so good, so good. She threw her head back, burying herself more deeply in the embrace that surrounded her. It was so warm she felt she could boil the water. Soon that fire began to throb in her stomach, her trembling legs were closed by overstimulation. She could barely move her hands in that position, she could feel that sensation diminishing. Then she heard a voice whispering in her ear and two strong hands swam up her thighs and separated them leaving them wide open and holding them like that. She gasped, twisting in the seat and pressing her head against the hard chest that enveloped her.

It was then that the feeling became too much, there was something that wanted to get out of her, an explosion that began to burst in her chest but couldn’t reach it. She twisted in a low gasp with her knees shaking in those huge hands. Hands? She opened her eyes and looked at Maui with her mouth open trying to catch enough air.

"Maui..." she moaned. She couldn’t stop but neither reach climax. Maui looked at her wide-eyed with surprise. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, then released one of her thighs and leaned over her. Moana gasped as her shoulder was gently bitten and her left nipple pinched with controlled strength and dexterity. The fire ran through her veins and her body arched with a deep groan. She closed her eyes so hard she could see little flashes of colors inside, and her head was spinning through the mixture of feelings of pleasure and dizziness.  
  


When she regained her senses she found herself still on Maui's lap surrounded by his arms, preventing her from sinking into the water after her little faint. He recognized the signs of her return and smiled at her.

"It wasn’t bad for a first time," he teased.

"That was..." She breathed out without words that could describe what she had just felt.

"They tell me that so often." Maui swelled his chest, raising his head in a thoughtful way. Moana rolled her eyes, still enjoying little spasms in her lower half. Then she remembered something.

"You bit me." She looked over her shoulder. Maui blinked a couple of times and shrugged.

"I saw you needed a little help."

"I understand the touch on my breast, but why bite me?"

"A good bite is pleasant." Moana's eyes widened in surprise. She would never have imagined that a bite could be pleasant. She turned in his arms and sat down in front of him on her knees.

"What else can we do?"

Maui frowned.

"I told you: this is just a class for you to learn, nothing will happen."

"Of course, you can’t just teach me this and expect that I would be satisfied." She folded her arms. Maui grimaced.

"If you're still unsatisfied, you can do it again."

"That's not what I mean and you know it. For example, how do you do it? You don’t have lips" she was silent for a few seconds "... I think" she added uncertainly.

"It's like washing a banana," he said dully. "Even so, what is promised is debt. I've taught you, we've had enough."

"But why stop here? I couldn’t have done it without your help."

"You just needed time and practice, next time you would know how to do it alone."

"But I don’t want to do it alone. Why can't we just keep doing this?"

"It's never enough, right?" He sprang to his feet and pushed her toward the lake. He turned and left.

"Maui!" She complained as she stood up. "Why?"

"Why what?" He bent down to take his hook.

"Why stop? We are comfortable with each other. We are friends and you are the only person with whom I can share this."

"No, I am not, if you only gave men a chance to approach you, you would see that there’s a lot of choices."

"But I don’t want any man. I'm fine with you."

"What you ask of me I can’t give you."

"Why not? I'm not asking you much, just share this. I liked it,  why stop?"

"This always gives way to something else and that is a bad idea."

"I wouldn’t deny anything else in the future."

Maui turned to face her.

"You don’t understand anything!" He shouted, pointing at her with the hook. "This, something like this between us would not end well. For either of us."

"Why do you say that? This wouldn’t change anything, we would still be friends."

"You're just a child, Moana, you can’t understand."

"I'm not a child, not any more," she complained. "I know what I want, I want this with you, why can't we have it? We are married, we still don’t know what the future holds."

"There is no future for us. You-" he pointed at her with a finger threateningly" you will fall in love with a mortal and you will live your life. As it should be."

"But I don’t want that. You are my family, I know that you didn’t intend that it came to more than a friendship but this is not something that we can’t do."

"This would end us."

"No, it's not true."

"Yes, it is, you will blame me in the future if I take advantage of you."

She opened her mouth wide open.

"Take advantage of me? I'm asking you!"

"You don’t know what you're asking!"

"I'm an adult woman, Maui, I can make my own decisions."

"Do you think you were the first pretty girl who came to me with stupid dreams and desires? For centuries it has followed the same pattern: a beautiful woman who fantasized about Maui, the hero of all, wanted to form a family, to be the most famous woman on the island to be with me, to have children and to go around strutting about. Her love and desire for marriage disappeared when I couldn’t stay with her permanently, nor could I give her children. It only took a couple of days for them to go out to form a family without you. You have no future with me, Moana."

"But I don’t want children," she defended herself, interrupting him. "And I don’t want you because you're a demigod."

"You are still young. If we start something like that, you'll end up getting tired of me and the bonds. You will find a man who appreciates you as much as you deserve and with whom you can form a family and you will blame me for taking advantage of your naïvetés and taking advantage of your youth. If I touch you, if I make you mine, in the future you will hate me, _you will._ " He remarked when she opened her mouth to complain. "And I will be the one who has to live the rest of my life remembering that you hate me, remembering…” he closed the eyes unable to finish speaking. He would remember everything: her touches, her smiles, her moans, her whispers, her pleas, her kisses… he wasn’t strong enough, not with this. "That's not gonna happen. One day, not today, not tomorrow, not even for a few months or years, you will find a man you will love and you can live your life together, fall in love, form a family and die together. That's not something I can offer you."

They were silent for a few seconds, Moana staring at him sadly and Maui with his shoulders drooping in despondency. She wondered how many times he had left his beloved on an island to perform a mission, to return and find that she had already moved on without him. How many women had rejected a relationship beyond one night for the simple fact that they couldn’t have a future with Maui. In the tribe the children were necessary for the prosperity of the island. A woman without children was a symbol of bad fortune, and even her mother had received a few skeptical glances for only having had a daughter compared to the large families that populated Motunui. Maui was right to fear starting a physical relationship with someone else based on his experience but one thing was certain: she was not like any of those young women with whom Maui had contact. She opened her mouth to answer when she heard someone shouting her name from the jungle. She stiffened suddenly, sinking into the water to cover her nakedness.

Maui tensed visibly and stepped between the stranger and her covering her with his body. From the bushes appeared a young man with his chest heaving from the run. He bent down, resting his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

"What's up?" Maui asked with a frown, surprised.

"Chief Tui has asked me to go get you. There's some trouble at the camp." Maui nodded sympathetically.

"Go ahead and tell them we're on our way." When the boy disappeared the way he had come, he heard a series of splashes behind him and turned to meet a very naked Moana in front of him.

"I know you had a bad time-" Maui made a gesture to interrupt but she raised her hand asking him to let her keep talking. “We don’t have time to talk now, let me finish. I know you had a bad time but I can assure you that you have never met anyone like me. No matter what happens, I can’t see the future, but I can promise you one thing: you're always going to be by my side, Maui. You're my best friend."

Maui closed his eyes at the warm sensation that gripped him and looked at her with a sad smile. He had lived long enough to know that a promise from a nineteen-year-old girl had no future or foundation, but he wouldn’t turn off the little flame she had lit inside him.

"Thank you, Mo."

She winked and circled him to get to her clothes. Maui followed her to help her, and for a moment he couldn’t keep his eyes from meditating on the tattoos on her legs.

 

* * *

 

When they arrived at the camp they found the tribe talking loudly, interrupting each other with exasperation. Moana and Maui shared a hesitant look. They approached her parents who were presiding over the meeting.

"What's up?" She asked behind her parent’s back. Tui turned around relieved to see her.

"At last you're here." He inclined his head to greet Maui. "There are problems with the news of leaving in two days. There are those who want to stay but fear to be alone in an unknown place," many of them nodded to him.

"This island is the perfect place to begin a new tribe, it is prosperous and secure." She looked at Maui for some verification, and he nodded. "You only need a new chief who can lead you."

"But we're trapped here, no one knows how to build such a large canoe or sail it," said one group voice, another supported him. Moana lifted her head, her wreath of flowers dancing in the wind.

"There will be two canoes on the island for those who decide to stay. Ehehene is the best sailor and has decided to stay. He can teach you and knows the canoes and the sea like the palm of his hand. If you want to go back to Motunui you just have to talk to him and he will be at your disposal."

There was another series of hesitant murmurings and occasional reproaches. Moana sighed.

"Look, I know it's hard to start in a new place when we've gotten used to Motunui, but this is something our people have been doing for millennia. We rode the canoes and sailed to new islands where we built new homes. It is something that scares but not to be afraid of, we are wayfinders!"

This time there were cheers and some whistling.

"This island is a new home, a new place to start."

"And you will not be alone," Maui said after her, taking a step forward, she looked at him wide-eyed and a smile proud and happy for his support. "You became my tribe and I promised to protect you, no matter how far you are, I always will."

Another wave of cheers and cheers, Maui inflated his chest with pride. Moana stroked his knuckles slyly and when he looked at her he smiled back at her.

"But we have to have a new chief," a voice exclaimed. Tui came to the rescue.

"I think we have to decide between the chiefs," he said authoritatively, turning to his daughter. "Come on, we need to talk."

Moana and Tui left to speak in private. The tribe continued to talk in nervous whispers, trying to reach a mutual understanding. A short time later Tui and Moana nodded and headed toward them.

"We've decided we're not going to pick a chief," Moana said, her head held high. There was a series of indignant shouts that Tui stopped with a gesture. "It’s not our right to do it, we are not going to live here so it is unfair to choose a potential leader who may not meet the needs of their people. Therefore we will choose a group of wise men and, over time, they will be in charge of choosing who they consider appropriate."

The indignant whispers changed to excited and enthusiastic. Everyone seemed to appreciate the idea of their chiefs: it was fair and promised that the new island would rise with someone chosen by the people and not one who could abuse their power.

"Now that we have finished with that point, I will meet with those who will form the group of sages and my father," she looked at Tui who nodded," will take care of the last preparations before we leave."

Moana met with a small group of elders and Tui began to give orders on which ships would stay and which would have to be stocked with supplies to leave. Maui looked at Pua who had scampered behind her friend and then fixed his eyes on the boats. Moana didn’t need his help now, and his presence would only make things worse. He wasn’t born for politics after all.

As he approached the beach he found Ehehene dragging a collection of nets towards one of the canoes.

"Hello," the young man said enthusiastically. Maui answered the greeting. "Will you stay with us or go with them?"

"Neither, I have other places to visit. I have never stayed in Motunui for long."

"Why not? Moana told me Motunui stories, they sound incredible. My island was small and we spent the day cultivating" he shrugged. "Until ten years ago no one knew how to fish. We only caught the crabs on the beach.

"It sounds frustrating." He laughed.

"You can’t even imagine it."

"I've never gotten used to spending a lot of time in one place," he said to the previous conversation. "It's... hard, sometimes."

Ehehene nodded, understanding what he meant. Maui was immortal, all his friends would pass with time and it was hard to see them go.

"We will build a temple in your honor here," he said excitedly, leaving the nets on the deck of the canoe. "You're the one who dragged this island out of the sea, right?"

Maui laughed, feigning embarrassment. He loved his fans.

"I'll come back and see it when it's done."

"We will be waiting."

 

* * *

 

The night had already fallen when Moana sat next to Maui at the campfire for dinner. Pua was dozing between Maui’s legs after he served him a large amount of food.

"Hard day, huh?" he said with a smile when Moana collapsed with an exhausted moan. He handed her a couple of pieces of fish wrapped in palm leaves.

"Exhausted... and tomorrow is going to be worse. I can’t wait to get out of here and go home. Starting a new settlement on a new island is a lot of work."

"That work has only just begun, but it will be the responsibility of those you have put in charge" he put a piece of fish in his mouth.

"At least at home things will be quieter… " she whispered tiredly.

Moana finished her dinner in a comfortable silence, responding again and again to some comment from the tribe that gathered around them near the fire. She yawned widely, trying to keep her eyes open. Maui smiled under his breath and get up, grabbing the little sleeping pig and holding it under his arm so he could lift the hook and with the other hand helped her to get up.

"Let's go, bedtime."

Moana let herself be dragged away from the fire to a small tent made of bamboo and palm leaves. She held Pua as Maui held it out so that he had enough space to crawl in and lie on his back with his arm extended for his companion. Moana laid her friend on the stomach of the demigod and crawled to rest on his bicep. Immediately she was engulfed in the warm embrace she had enjoyed all these past days.

"Are you going to go back to Motunui with me?" She whispered sleepily.

"No, as soon as you leave the island, I'll leave," came the reply in a loose voice. Moana didn’t reply but her chest tightened knowing that in just a couple of days they would have to say goodbye again. She pressed closer against the warm body beside her and exhaled loudly. She couldn’t deny that she was going to miss him.

 

* * *

 

 

"PULL!!" They shouted from the shore. It was the day of departure and they were dragging the ships back into the sea. Maui had lifted one above his head and had advanced until it was deep enough to release it and help the group to climb into it.

Once they were all ready in their respective canoes they turned towards the island to say goodbye to those who had remained behind. Whistles, screams and songs were heard until the island had almost disappeared on the horizon. It was then that Maui squeezed her wrist gently to get her attention. Moana understood it without words: it was time to separate again. They both left the group for privacy, even Pua stood behind them, his head tilted to one side.

"I must go," he said once they were in private. Moana nodded.

"I know."

"Hey, we'll see you soon, okay? Besides, I have to make sure you get home safely."

Moana smiled halfway, still head down. These last few days with Maui had been magical; Not only for her new and newly learned experience but for the simple fact of being with him at her side. The comfort, friendship, and respect she'd felt alongside him had never felt with anyone. Go to sleep every night with a warm body next to her and wake up every morning with the huge demigod embracing her like a lifeguard with Pua dozing noisily on his stomach. Feeling how Maui wakes up, opened his eyes to look at her with a sleepy smile and yawned, getting up ready to go out to eat, start the day, work and then spend her afternoons with her. From today she would go to sleep alone and wake up again alone.

"Mo?" Maui asked, noticing that she was totally absorbed. Moana shook her head and looked at him with sad eyes.

"It’s ok, it's just... I'm going to miss you." Maui looked at her with an unhappy smile.

"Me too." He opened his arms and she took a couple of steps until she was buried in his embrace. Moana swallowed hard to quell the tingle in her throat and clenched her jaw to prevent tears. It was never easy to say goodbye to her friend but after so much time together now it was becoming incredibly painful. She was aware of every muscle, of the smell of the sea, of how his breathing stirred her hair, and how the warmth spread over every part of skin they had in contact.

Suddenly they heard someone clearing their throats behind them and Moana's eyes suddenly opened as she jumped back like Maui was on fire. Tui watched them leaning against the mast with their arms crossed and a knowing half-smile.

"Dad!" She cried, embarrassed not knowing what to say. "We were just saying goodbye, everything okay?"

"Saying goodbye?" He walked toward them.

"Yes, Maui has to go." She looked over her shoulder at the demigod for verification, and he nodded.

"Yes, I assumed that, we went straight to Motunui, but I thought you'd want to take the long road." Tui put a hand over her shoulders and turned her to face the sea, where a small empty canoe was tied to another that was being readied. Moana opened her mouth with excitement.

"Seriously?" She said excitedly unable to remain still.

"Of course, I have expressly requested that they arrange it for your trip."

"But what about Motunui?"

"It'll be there waiting for you when you get there, just don’t take too long, okay?" Moana looked at Maui for any negativity, but his radiant smile filled her with joy. She jumped on the spot and turned to fetch Pua. She picked him up in spite of the frightened cry the little animal gave and ran back to them. She hugged her father tightly and without thinking twice she sped forward to the edge of the deck of the ship and jumped. Maui quickly became a hawk and with a nod to Tui he spread his wings and caught her in the air with his huge claws. He left her gently on the surface of their new travel canoe and turned in mid flight, falling at one end and grabbing a rope, causing the boat to tilt abruptly and change direction, leaving the rest to continue advancing without them.

"Chee ho!" Moana shouted, waving her arms high. She was so happy; Not only was going to live another adventure, and it was going to be with her best friend. They could spend more time together without having to say goodbye and surely he would eventually accompany her to Motunui. Maui took control of the canoe.

"Where shall we go?" He asked, waiting for orders.

"You promised me Lalotai a long time ago," she reminded him with a radiant smile.

"I did," he said, and the canoe swung to the left. "Get ready, our next destination: Lalotai."

Moana couldn’t help shouting from the excitement, letting the wind whip her hair and her wreath with fierceness. They went on another adventure.

Together.

  
  
**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will reply to all reviews as soon as I can, this week has been horribly busy!
> 
> ["Maui..."](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/post/162349879936/maui-fanart-for-the-fanfic-fire-and-dust) by [MagicFishHook](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Thank you very much for your comments, I'm very glad you like the fic!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I bring you a new update with three fanarts.  
> I'm going to be away next week for holiday. I will update Chapter 9 as soon as I get back, but I don’t know if I will have time to finish the fanart, I may have to upload it later (it will be NSFW).  
> I don’t know if I will have internet so I will reply to comments and questions when I can.  
> I hope you like this chapter!

"I see it!" Moana said, pointing to the front from the top of the mast.

They had spent two days in the canoe doing nothing but spending time together, fishing, making toys with leaves and sticks to tell stories, singing... and finally they had reached their destination.

"It is not taller?" she asked as they approached and the huge mountain rising above them.

"You're not the first person to ask," he said, they tied the canoe to a rock and jumped. Pua was the first to jump off scrounging between the geometric stones happily.

"No, Pua, you can’t come." The pig suddenly stopped and looked at her with watery black eyes and a pout. Moana glanced at Maui with a devilish grin and shrugged. "Okay, Maui, I think Pua wants to come with us to Lalotai."

Maui looked at him in mock surprise.

"Do you want to come to the kingdom of monsters where they will chase us and try to devour us? You're a very brave pig," he turned to Moana," we can always use him as a distraction to flee. Monsters love pigs."

Pua gave a sharp shriek and ran to hide in the small hold of the canoe. Moana and Maui chuckled.

"Come on, I'll take you up," Maui said before turning into a huge hawk with a snap. Moana walked over to him and in a nimble leap, sat on his back, twisting until she was comfortable and secure with her legs beneath his wings.

"Come on, let's go!" she kicked his sides with her heels and Maui took the flight in upward circles.

Moana clung to his neck, laughing hysterically at the tingling in her stomach. She could see a very astonished Pua peering out of the small canoe that was moving away as they ascended. Once on top of the summit they landed and she jumped letting Maui return to his human state.

"I never get used to flying," she said brightly, moving toward the mouth of the carving.

"Exciting, huh?" Maui followed her to where the rock that served as a lock on the doors of Lalotai. Once he was in place he began to make his haka with loud cries and sudden movements. After the jump the ground trembled and the mouth opened slowly.

"I want you to teach me that," she said, still amazed.

"You aren’t going to be able to enter even if you knew, mortals can’t open Lalota's door." Moana shrugged, a little disappointed but returned to answer.

"Not just to enter, I want to learn to do it. In Motunui women learn the hula, I like your haka."

Maui thought for a few seconds and nodded.

"All right, we'll go down and I’ll teach you. It’s not good to have the door of the realm of monsters open too long” he seemed to jump, but instead he held out his hand to her and waited.

Moana took it with complete confidence and together they jumped. The violet and blue colors exploded in front of her eyes, blinded by a multitude of fantastic shapes and magical spirals. When she could finally breathe again, she realized that she was falling into the void, when a huge hand circled her waist. When Maui had her in his arms he lifted the hook that hooked into a vine and with one turn in the air they fell cleanly to the ground.

"Tada!" He exclaimed, raising his arms as a presentation. Moana clapped after the roll and he bowed to an imaginary audience. Mini Maui jumped around, throwing what looked like confetti.

When the laughs were over, they set off. Again thanks to the demigod, they were able to go their way without problems or attacks. The inhabitants of Lalotai had unpleasant experiences with the shapeshifter and it was more than obvious that they didn’t have the slightest intention of a second round.

They soon found the giant shell. Moana was the first to enter and found the place empty. Or it would be if she hadn’t met Tamatoa and hadn’t seen him reappear the first time. Maui stepped past her and tapped the edge of the golden mound with his hook. It shook and rose, exposing the figure it was hiding.

"Who dares to disturb my...? Oh, You again?" He said in a bored tone.

"We've come to visit." Moana came out behind Maui's back and greeted him cheerfully.

"The human! Again!," he exclaimed, letting his exalted tone become monotonous. "What are you doing here?"

"I've already said it, we've come to visit you." Moana pulled away from Maui to approach him. Tamatoa was about to make a joke when something caught his eyes and he shrieked, pointing with a pincer.

"What is that?" Before giving her time to answer, he grabbed her by the ankle and lifted her upside down. Her flower headband fell to the floor and she screamed as she grabbed her skirt so it didn’t flip down. "Tattoos? You got tattoos!"

"Hey, let her go," Maui shouted, stepping forward menacingly. Tamatoa realized where and with whom he was, and stepped back, unceremoniously releasing her. Maui extended an arm and she fell cleanly on it. "Are you okay?" He asked, letting her rise to her feet.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you," she replied, still a little dizzy. Maui bent to pick up the wreath and put it on her head carefully, pulling the hair from her face with a caress, she smiled affectionately by the gesture. Tamatoa, who had stayed in off to the side, watching the interaction of the couple with his mouth open, how they had reached this in just a few months? What was happening?

"You two are giving me tooth decay," he grunted. Maui glared at him, and Moana raised an eyebrow, not knowing what he was talking about.

"You better stop talking nonsense if you don’t want to..." Maui began raising the weapon. Moana intervened.

"Leave it alone. We are only here in passing, we came back from an island west of here and we wanted to stop by to say hello."

"Hello and goodbye." Tamatoa turned his back and buried himself again. She looked at Maui confused.

"This hasn’t gone as I expected."

"Don’t let his idiocy confuse you. He's quite happy to have us here, but he doesn’t know how to externalize it." He shrugged it off. "By the way, I promised you that I would teach the Haka, didn’t I?"

She took a step forward with her fist raised ready for her new class.

It was one of the best experiences she've had so far. Maui, as always, was an attentive and fun teacher, strict, true, but he loved to teach and his way of doing it proved it. He didn’t scold the mistakes and praise the job well done. To start, they practiced how to put a _warrior face_ , something obligatory and demanded during the haka: you had to show that you are a ferocious warrior and impose on your rival, terrify your enemies. That was the first step.

Moana had tried harder but had been more difficult than she imagined. To put on a monstrous and terrifying face like Maui’s was more complicated than it seemed. They finished the lesson several hours later when she had learned the haka in an acceptable way to open the door, if she wasn’t human. There were many more hakas that Maui knew but by the time she had been able to match the haka with song and face, Lalotai had already fallen on a deepening  night. They said nothing about the third member who had joined them as a spectator at first. Tamatoa had pulled his head out of his hiding place when the screams and grunts had begun. Maui had given him a sour look when he made a comment about a woman learning a men's dance and grunted the response between teeth: it was a dance for warriors, women were formidable warriors if you gave them a chance to show their skills. Finally the crustacean had nodded sympathetically and had given little advice on the face of the warrior and, surprisingly, had a few to correct the choreography of the human. After that they approached the terrace where they had slept the last time and Moana and Tamatoa spoke extensively of her new tattoos.

"The bed we made last time is still here," Moana said, pointing to the set of plants in a corner.

"They are a little weedy and I don’t know what kind of substance they leave once they rot. Better go out and get more."

"Leave now? We will not be able to see anything, It will be better if we light a fire to guide us."

"No!" Shouted Tamatoa and Maui in unison.

"Honey, if you light a fire here you're going to attract big monsters like moths."

"Why?" she asked the crustacean. "You shine and you don’t seem to have problems with the monsters. We also have Maui."

"They're attracted to the heat, not the light," the demigod answered. "And although I would love to duel again with some nasty monster here I am afraid he is right. We never know what is in Lalotai, better not to attract attention on us."

"More than now, you know, walking around with a mortal in a place where you've sent most of the inhabitants," Tamatoa said.

"Then what do we do?" She asked. They both looked at each other and smiled.

 

"Can I open my eyes now?" she asked somewhat impatiently as they walked awkwardly. Maui had taken her to the cave door, and before she could blink, he had put an arm around her head and covered her eyes with his huge palm. He had given her no explanation, only asked to follow and guided her through the rocks of the small and nonexistent road. Tamatoa, on the other hand, had decided to stay in his den wanting to _leave them alone_. Being under the arm of the demigod, she couldn’t help feeling like he was tense by the words of the crustacean, but had decided to let the comment pass.

"Just a few more steps."

"This is ridiculous."

"But you're going to love it." She sighed knowing he was probably right. She never ceased to be fascinated by everything new that she discovered beyond her island.

As he had said, they walked a couple more steps and then stopped her suddenly.

"It's all right here, are you ready?"

She sighed, bored.

"You know I am."

"Sure? hundred percent?"

"Maui!"

"Okay, okay." He chuckled and pulled away, removing his hand so she could open her eyes again. She gasped as her eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, or to the lack of it. They were in a clearing lit by thousands of luminescent colors that reached as far as the eye could see. There were violets, fuchsia roses, lime yellows and electric blues. All of them coming from plants, shrubs, small trees with tiny animals in them. She took a couple of steps forward, slowly turning so she could see everything around her. There were small bright flowers in Motunui and the fireflies were visible on the hot nights in the lagoon but she had never seen anything like this.

"Don’t touch the blues and stay away from the greens. The yellows and pinks are fine, although the tentacles of the pinks may catch you. Don’t worry, they are harmless. And if something strikes you, remember: _warrior’s face._ "

She nodded still in her thoughts, moving farther and farther into the forest of bright lights. She stroked several trunks of brightly colored palms, smiling as the bioluminescent dust clung to the palm of her hands and one fell on her garments making the feathers on the dress light up. She looked down at the ground and watched how the ground beneath her lit up. Without a moment's hesitation she ran out, staring at the glowing grass. She ran and ran without stopping until everything around her was a bright rainbow-colored blur. It was then that she felt a strong tug in her stomach and was forced into a burly warm body. At first she tensed for the fright without knowing who it was but once her nose caught the salty smell of the sea she relaxed.

"Don’t run like that," Maui said in an angry tone. Moana stepped back a few inches to see the reason for her friend's reaction and found a huge void a few feet ahead of her. "At night the cliffs are harder to see, that's why the plants shine. Don’t let them fool you, they don’t light to be pretty: they do it to attract prey, but some are smarter than others and instead of poison they use this type of traps."

"I hadn’t seen it," she said with a lump in her throat. If it were not for him right now she would have been falling into the dark in the realm of monsters. She turned to him, thanking him in a whisper, still shocked.

"It’s ok, I should have warned you, I'm sorry." She shook her head and turned her gaze to the black abyss wondering what kind of creatures would lie in the background. Surely there would be one of those sloths with masks or the bats of thousand eyes. She felt a pressure on her cheek and looked at Maui who had gently laid a hand on her face and caressed it with his thumb. Moana held her breath with her eyes wide with surprise. His touch was gentle and soft, brushing her skin like a perfect wood carving. Moana opened her mouth, not yet knowing what to say, but Maui had already taken his hand away. It was then that she saw the pink flash on his fingers and closed her mouth with a _click_. He hadn't tried anything, was just cleaning her face of plant dust. She stepped back slightly.

"Let's find up the plants to make the bed and let's go. It's late and tomorrow we have to get up early."

Maui had noticed her change of mood and frowned at her, not knowing what to say, but at her words only nodded and followed her to help her carry the leaves from her bed.

When they got back to Tamatoa's lair they were accompanied by silence and, to Moana's dismay, it was an awkward silence. Not that she had nothing to say but because her mind had stalled in the previous scene. The touch of Maui on her skin had fanned the heat in her body, the same warmth she had felt when they were on the lake in their first ‘ _how to know herself_ ’ class; That pressure in her stomach, her legs quivering, her breathing cracked... All by a simple hand on her cheek wiping some pollen. She slapped herself mentally for thinking like that. They had made it clear that they were friends, which was something she had to keep in mind even though her heart beat twice as many times a second as his skin came into contact with her own.

Tamatoa greeted them when he saw them and they responded automatically gaining a contemptuous and ridiculous comment from the crustacean that they had the pleasure of ignoring, for the good of all of them. The mood was so tense between them that once they made up the bed, Maui stood up to look at her seriously.

"I'm going to sleep with Tamatoa tonight," he began in a hard voice, but seeing her face concerned with eyes widened by surprise, his attitude changed to a nervous and whispered "if you want."

Moana shook her head.

"No, I want you to stay with me, I mean, if you don’t care-" they fell into an awkward silence again. After several seconds staring at each other, she clenched her jaw and stretched out on the leaves, turning her back to him with a quick _good night_.

She held her breath, her body tense with anticipation, attentive to any sound that would betray Maui's decision. A few seconds later she felt the bed of leaves sink to one side and the demigod lay down beside her. She inadvertently expelled all the air she had been holding and turned to curl up against him. Maui slipped an arm below her head and she leaned closer to his chest. Soon she was surrounded by his warm embrace. He rested his chin on her head and settled, avoiding crushing her. She closed her eyes with a satisfied sigh and inhaled quietly to catch the characteristic scent of the demigod. Due to the salty scent of the sea, the warmth of the bed or the arms surrounding her, she fell asleep in mere seconds with a smile on her lips.

 

* * *

 

When she woke up she was alone. She blinked twice at the sun and waited to get accustomed to the brightness to look around. Lalotai was not the brightest kingdom, but the light from the opening cast enough light to wake her up. She got up from the terrace where they had made the bed and looked for some indication of the presence of some of her friends but she was completely alone. She frowned, rather annoyed that she had been left behind in her sleep and went to the mouth of the shell to see if she could find them outside. However, she hardly reached the outside when she found Maui entering with a nervous air, followed by Tamatoa.

"Good morning," she said. Tamatoa answered nervously, his eyes fixed on his back, alert for any movement.

"We have to go," Maui's voice was raw and his face was serious and impenetrable.

"What? Why?"

"Something followed you during the night" came the answer behind her. Moana looked at Tamatoa with her mouth open.

"What? What followed us?" Maui took a step forward and grabbed her arm roughly, giving her a strong tug.

"We have to go, _now_."

She hissed at the pain but that didn’t stop the demigod, who practically dragged her out of the shelter. Moana looked back for some help from the crustacean, but he had shrunk into his shell and dismissed them with a wave from one of the claws with only his eyes peeking from the rim of his shell.

Maui managed to drag her a couple of feet until she jerked away with a sudden movement determined to not to take a single step further.

"What's up? Can you at least tell me what's going on?" She demanded. Maui turned around to face her and stepped forward until he was a few inches away from her face.

"Tell me what you see, _princess_ ," he asked with a low grunt. Moana frowned and looked around. She was filled with surprise at seeing all around half destroyed by something that looked like huge footprints very, very close to the shelter where they had spent the night. Suddenly, Maui tensed and looked around.

"What is it?" She asked, taking a step toward him.

"Shhh," he hissed harshly.

"What?" she spoke again unable to keep silent because of restlessness, mini Maui came to life and made a hysterical gesture for her to be quiet.

"Don’t you hear?" They paused for a few seconds and listened.

Her throat contracted as she realized what he was talking about: nothing was heard. Not a whisper, nor the footsteps of the creatures, nor the whales above them, nor the little insects in the trees, not even the plants breathed.

"We have to go," he shapeshifted in a hawk with a _click_ and bent down so that she could climb on him, not taking his eyes off looking for any movement that occurred in the vicinity.

Moana obeyed quickly and climbed onto his neck. She had barely settled when the animal took flight to the ocean ceiling. A few seconds of touching the water _it_ was heard: a thunderous roar from the darkness beneath them. She looked over her shoulder but the sudden change of speed prevented her from seeing anything. They struck the ocean as if they had fallen from a great height. Maui wasted no time and transformed into a shark ascending as fast as he could to the surface.

They had almost reached the outside when Maui jerked suddenly and was pulled downward, causing Moana to lose her grip. She let out a breath of air at the fright and looked down. All she could see was a gigantic black scaly silhouette on Lalotai's lit floor. The burning of her lungs reminded her of where she was and pushed herself up as fast as she could in search of oxygen. She saw a faint flash and the sea surrounded her carrying her upwards with great speed. Once she broke the surface, she was fired into the air. She barely had time to catch her breath as the huge hawk caught her precariously, grabbing her clothes with his beak and lifted her to the top of the mountain. When they reached the top, he released her suddenly, causing her to fall hard on the ground and he fell a couple of meters past, with his feathered body tumbling on the surface from the speed of his landing. Moana shook her head trying to calm the pain and turned to him with concern.

"Maui!" She said, alarmed to see the hawk on the ground with his wide, disorderly wings spread out at the sides. She stood up and ran to him kneeling beside him and stroking his plumed neck. "Maui?"

The demigod opened one eye and looked at her, his beak was open and its breathing was agitated. She smiled a little relieved, then heard an unpleasant creak coming from the foot of the mountain. Her heart stopped beating for a few seconds as she realized that the noise was coming from the canoe.

"Pua!" she exclaimed, almost crawling to the edge of the mountain. When she arrived she looked in horror as the boat had disappeared and there was only a rough sea with white foam and floating wood. Her throat constricted with pain and tears filled her eyes. "No, no, Pua! PUA!" She sobbed, stretching her arm in a futile attempt to save her friend.

From the corner of her eyes she saw a brown spot and turned just in time to see the battered figure of Maui dive down to the sea.

"Maui!" she shouted with all the strength of her lungs, watching the demigod fall to the water with a blue flash. She climbed down the huge mountain, rock after rock as carefully as she could, despite the rapidity with which she descended. Every time she looked out she could see the dark water stirred by the movement of the struggle in its depths. She went down with her heart in a fist praying to all the gods that her grandmother had taught her to protect her two friends. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t calculate the next step, and her foot slipped, causing her to fall to the water. The cold wracked her body and she was wrapped in the darkness of the sea.

 

 

Frightened by what might be happening below her, she looked down to see if she could make out anything in the shadows. She cried out silently upon seeing the huge lizard that had attacked them, being surrounded by a huge black octopus of trembling and deadly tentacles. The cephalopod seemed to be aware of her presence as one of its tentacles rushed towards her and one grabbed her by the waist. Moana screamed, expelling the air left in her lungs.. Before she realized, she was being hurled hard towards the island. Her body spun in the air and fell on the sand, tumbling heavily. She straightened up, choking for air. Noticing how close she was to the shore, she crawled back, frightened, away as far as she could from the edge. She didn’t even know if she trembled with fear or worry. She saw pieces of wood floating in front of her, and her throat stung her with grief: she had lost Pua and it was completely her fault. She had insisted on going to Lalotai, to have adventures with her friend. Now Maui was fighting a beast of the realm of the monsters because of her. She shrank back, staring into the sea, letting the tears of pain and helplessness flow down her cheeks as she pleaded in silence for Maui to return safely, and if he could, for he to not return alone.

Then she heard a muffled shriek and raised her head in surprise. She knew that sound. She staggered to her feet from all the blows she had received and ran to where the, now shattered canoe, had been. She pushed aside several planks of wood and saw a hole in the rock where a familiar hairy head popped out.

"Pua!" She cried, sobbing with joy. The little animal gave another shriek and threw himself into her arms, totally happy to see her. "Oh no... " with Pua in her arms, she turned and ran back to the beach. "Ocean, warn Maui! Bring him back!" The ocean didn’t react. She dropped Pua and stepped forward defiantly. "Give him back to me! Now!"

As if it were a magic invocation, the sea exploded in a huge column of water and Maui fell hard face down on the beach a few meters from her. She lunged at him with a shriek, dropping to the side of his unconscious body. With all the strength she had left, she grabbed his arm and turned him on his back.

"Oh no..." she sobbed. "He’s not breathing, why he’s not breathing? Maui!" she leaned over to see mini Maui, looking for some reaction but the tattoos were motionless. "Maui, breathe!" she shouted, clenching her hands in two fists and slamming his chest again and again. "Breathe, breathe, don’t leave me Maui! Please!"

The sea reacted again by spitting a very familiar hook that struck directly onto the demigod's chest where seconds before Moana had her hands. The impact caused him to jerk with a grunt spitting and coughing a large amount of water.

Suddenly he was wrapped in a strong hug around his neck which made him totally petrified until he realized who she was. He narrowed his eyes, between sad and disgusted with himself.

"I'm sorry," he said in a choked voice, "I couldn’t... Pua..."

"He's fine, he had hidden among the rocks. Oh, Maui... I thought you were dead. " He heard a broken sob in his ear. "I thought you were dead," she repeated disconsolately.

"It takes a lot more to kill me," he said softly, tapping her back to calm her. "I'm fine."

"I thought I lost you," she gasped.

"I'm not going anywhere, I promise," he murmured, pressing her against him. He tried to move his left arm to embrace her but the movement caused a stab of pain that left him hissing. Moana turned away as if he were on fire, afraid of hurting him.

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly. He nodded, his eyes narrowed, and he swallowed hard. He looked down at his arm, careful not to move it too much, and whistled again at the deep bite on the skin.

"Damn it, this is going to sting." Moana gasped at the wound with her eyes open. "It’s okay, don’t worry, it will heal in a couple of hours, maybe one day." He twisted his arm to see the bleeding wound better.

"We have to cover it." She let go of her skirt without any modesty and tore it hard.

"Hey, your skirt," he complained, frowning.

"We have nothing better, the canoe is shattered." She waved off his concerns and kneeled beside him to bandage his wound. "Besides there are some palm trees there so you can make me a skirt like yours," she said with a smile, wiping a stray tear from her cheek with her forearm, "and it would be risky to use them as bandages."

"You're worrying too much, I've had worse." But he didn’t pull away or complain as she began to cover the wound with the frayed garment.

"I know... but you did it for me." Pua chirped making her smile, "and for Pua. I don’t know how to thank you, Maui. Although it was the most stupid and thoughtless thing- "her sweet touch hardened and he ended up letting out a moan that she ignored "-that you have done in your life and if you do it again I swear by Motunui that... that... " she closed her mouth with a snap unable to think something horrible enough to make him.

Maui chuckled.

"I'm fine." He placed a hand on hers, giving her a small squeeze. "I promise."

"How did it catch you? And what was that creature?" she asked, preferring to change the subject.

"He's one of the old giants. They died many years ago and ended up in Lalotai." He shrugged. "It is much easier to fight with them as another giant."

"Is that why you became the octopus?" He nodded.

"Fe'e."

"Can you shapeshift into anything?"

"It depends, I can’t change into Te Fiti." He got up with Moana's help and his hook. "Let's get out of here and go inland off the beach. The corpse will attract attention."

"Are we in danger?"

"I don’t think so, but I'm not going to be able to fight well with my arm like that, it's better not to risk it," they limped to an esplanade with an open view of the sea so they could watch out for any unwanted guests.

Once settled, Moana climbed a pair of palms to remake her skirt and gathered a large armful of leaves to make the bed for the night. She hadn’t wanted to bring it up with Maui but with the sunken canoe they wouldn’t be able to leave here without his help and he was not in a position to embark on a voyage across the ocean with a human and a pig. She spent the busy afternoon trying to find food away from the shore, ripping palm leaves and yedra to make fire for the night -then Maui reminded her that it would be wiser not to light anything so close to Lalotai- and, above all, taking the utmost care with the wounds of her friend. Pua had escaped unscathed but Maui was another story. His arm was useless and as he stood up to move Moana could see a limp that he tried with all his efforts to hide. Surely it would be from when the huge lizard caught him by the tail when they were coming out of the sea and Maui was in his shark form.

Meanwhile, Maui had been forced to lie on their temporary bed and let her work. He had denied it profusely but he hadn’t been able to take more than three steps without staggering. The good thing about being a demigod is that when Moana checked the wounds later they were healing in a surprisingly fast way.

"I told you," Maui said with a half-smirk. "The demigods heal quick."

They prepared for the night against the rocks of the mountain. Pua slept in the small space between them. He seemed to have been fine during the afternoon but the little animal was really scared to stay there much longer. Moana hadn’t wanted to say anything, even though she felt that small distance between them like a gully in her chest. Today she had nearly lost Maui, and her spirit burned with desire to spend the night hugging him, listening to the beating of his heart to check that he was really alive and with her. There was scarcely a ray of sun on the horizon when Maui looked around for a hundredth time. Moana sat up on her elbow.

"All right?"  
Maui's pensive, stony face blurred into a warm smile.

"Yes, sleep." She leaned back, but Maui, who sat leaning against the rocks for a better view, frowned and continued to scan the overlook.

When the last ray disappeared his attitude changed, becoming more alert, with the hook tightly clenched in the fist of his good arm. She couldn’t resist anymore and she approached him crawling on all fours. He stiffened as he felt a hand on his leg and looked expectantly at Moana.

"You should sleep," he demanded again. She nodded, crawling into his lap and resting her head on his good shoulder. "Mo?"

"It's cold," she said. Her heart thudded again, remembering the hard body that used to sleep with her at night. It certainly was cold for not having a tent over their heads and not being able to light a fire, but also was the excuse that she needed to be able to cuddle against him. Pua shifted in his sleep searching for the warmth that had disappeared and woke up with a small, frightful moan when he didn’t find it. He looked around and scampered for the couple. Moana grabbed him in her arms and placed him on her lap, hugging him. Maui gazed at them in silence for a few moments and embraced them, being careful with his wounds and covered them with the hook in front of them in case of danger. She laid a hand on his chest next to the tattoo of mini Moana. Mini Maui cheered up, winking at her.

"We're fine, Maui, you don’t have to worry."

He gave her a slight squeeze on her leg.

"We will not be safe until I get you out of here," he murmured. Moana didn’t want to rebut it, to be in the doors of Lalotai with a giant corpse on the shore and without possibility of protecting themselves was dangerous. But Maui had fought too hard for today, he deserved a break.

"The ocean will see that nothing bad happens to us, you must rest, you are hurt" he pressed them hard against his chest and before falling asleep Moana swore that she had heard a:

"Better me than you."

 

* * *

 

"I'm not sure it's wise," Moana said somewhat hesitantly a few feet from Maui with Pua at her feet. When she woke up that morning, Maui was still in the same position as he had been the previous night, and he hadn’t slept at all. He had been alert for any possible danger all night and keeping his two little friends warm against his body. Now, in the middle of the morning, and without even letting her check his injuries, he had decided that he would try to shapeshift into a hawk so he could get them out of there.

"It’s fine, I've got everything under control." He waved his hand away. Pua and she exchanged looks of consternation but stood aside. Maui sucked in air and lifted the hook, letting it fall with his usual war cry.

His body lit up in blue and he became the gigantic hawk. The bandages fell off his broadened wings and the bird gave a small groan as the pain pulsed over his body and he stumbled forward calming the sudden stab. He quickly changed back to a human, and Moana was there in a matter of a seconds, her hands on his torso to prevent a possible fall.

"I told you, it's still too early."

"But I have to get you out of here... there is hardly any food, there is no water and above all, we are just above Lalota."

"We have the mighty Maui with us," she reminded him. "Maui that brought out coconut from eels, that slow down the sun..."

"That can’t shapeshift because he is weak," he growled with an annoying grimace, getting away from her. At least, Moana thought, his limp had almost disappeared in less than 24 hours. Pua gave Moana a sad look and she shook her head and begged him to stay where he was. Despite the terror of being alone he obeyed, would stay if he was able to see them even if in the distance. Before she left, she ducked over the fallen bandages to see if she could try to persuade Maui to put them in his wounds again.

Maui had sat down on the shore without fear either looking toward the dark abyss below him. Moana reached behind him, alerting him to her presence with a pat on the shoulder, and sat down next to him arm in arm.

"You're not weak, you're the strongest person I know," she whispered to him.

"As you know so many people, princess," he taunted. Moana made a gesture of pain that was unnoticed by him but she didn’t fall into his trap: Maui was always rude when he was frustrated with himself. It was the way he had to protect himself from potential criticism. Abandoned by his parents, loved only by his deeds... she doubted that he would have felt much love beyond gratitude for his prowess and surely he was the first to blame his mistakes. It was a facet of him that many didn’t know.

"I may not know many, but I know them well. Just as well as I know you. You are the bravest and strongest person I know. You just had an epic bout with a giant beast of Lalotai and you've won. You've been hurt, yes, but on many islands scars are a symbol of honor, not of weakness."

Maui took a few seconds to respond.

"I will not have scars, my body regenerates quickly."

"You know what I mean." She tapped his shoulder gently and frowned at what he had just said. "So, your palm?"

Maui looked at her doubtfully, not knowing what she meant. Moana took his hand and opened his palm.

"It's not there." She ran her fingers over where it had been that ugly scar from the day of their wedding.

"The only thing that can mark my skin are the tattoos and I don’t know if it is only because of the magic. I've never had a normal one." He pulled his hand away and propped it onto the sand behind Moana to lean slightly over her and stand closer.

"We'll have to try it when we get home."

He nodded unconvinced. Moana bowed a little sheepishly.

"I really thought you were not going to get out of the water... in the fight, you know. It's not that I didn’t trust you-" she exclaimed raising her hands as if apologizing for what she had just said" -it's just... you were struggling to save me and save Pua. You didn’t care who the monster was, you protected us. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you. And I feel guilty for your injuries since I was the one who insisted on coming. If anything had happened to you, I would never have forgiven myself."

Maui wrapped his arm around her and pulled her to him, resting the chin on her head. Moana accepted the touch, her body still craving the contact to make sure he was still here with her. She leaned her cheek against his chest and closed the eyes, listening to the beat of his heart.

"We're fine, Pua, you and me, and I'm going to get you out of here and get you home safely."

"I know you'll do it."

They stared at the sea and Moana managed to distinguish what, from a distance, looked like a whale.

"And if you become a whale and we ride on you? You wouldn't use your arms like the hawk."

"Whales swim faster when they’re submerged. They just go out to breathe... "Something seemed to light up in Maui's head because he suddenly stopped and looked at her with a half-evil grin. "Do you trust me?"

Moana almost wished she didn’t.

 

 

* * *

 

 

"This is the stupidest of stupid ideas," she shouted in the middle of the huge mouth. Maui's brilliant plan to leave the island was to use Moana’s idea with a simple change: instead of riding atop the whale they would travel inside it. It had been difficult to calm Pua, who had spent more than an hour running from side to side, unfortunately for the demigod, trying to find a nonexistent exit.

"We're going to have to talk about your bad breath, Maui," she shouted again. No matter how much she complained or talked, it was always a one-sided conversation as Maui could not open his mouth to respond.

She sighed trying to keep herself steady with the constant movement of the creature. Pua had already surrendered and lay face down, hoping of regaining enough energy to continue panicking. She lost count of the time that had been submerged until Maui stopped abruptly straddling the sand of a beach. He opened his mouth to let them out, and Moana jumped out for several puffs of clean air for the first time in a day. Maui shifted behind her and came up with a shrug to stretch his muscles.

"How are you?" She asked, looking at his almost closed wounds.

"Good, maybe tomorrow I can fly."

"At least we've gotten away from Lalotai, where are we?"

"In Whetu, I think."

"Oh, yes, I visited this island when I was looking for you,” she exclaimed happily. They weren’t far from the route she had taken with the canoe.

"Was it habited? I have not been here in ages."

"There were a couple of tribes spread out along the beaches.

"Are they peaceful?" She nodded.

"They're kind people, but they don’t speak our dialect."

"Better not to attract attention."

"Why not? I don’t think they are going to give us any problems, they will surely give us food and help."

"I'm not in the mood to deal with anyone today," he blurted out before setting off into the grove, leaving the beach behind. Moana blew a strand of hair from her face and looked at Pua, they shrugged and followed.

Maui led them to a river where they could wash themselves and drink plenty of water. Despite his complaints she insisted on washing his wounds to avoid future infections, something that, according to Maui, was impossible. None of his complaints prevented her from completing her work. They searched for something to eat and spent the night in a small tent they had built in a couple of hours. The next morning Maui turned into a hawk, circled the island and picked them up to take them to Motunui.

Pua was the most difficult to convince, but Moana spent a more than pleasant journey lying along his back with her arms surrounding his feathered body and being able to hear the beating of his heart. Maui was alive, was here with her and was taking them home.

 

* * *

 

Two weeks.

Two weeks since they came home. The first thing they saw as they flew in, were new canoes scattered along the Motunui beaches. Apparently they were travelers who came in passing called by the rumor of the legend of the demigod Maui who guarded the island and brought them the best fish and crops. Several merchants had exchanged their goods with Motunui, and now the island was growing by leaps and bounds due to its legends and commercial location. Since she had arrived she had only worked: day after day she got up with the cackling of poor Hei Hei -who she had to save several times from the paws of some hungry navigator- and her tasks began from welcoming the new visitors as to supervise the merchants and the incoming and coming goods. Analyze what was the best form of production and teach the novices how to work with the new materials and tools they had collected from other islands. Her parents helped her a lot, but still many days she felt it was too much. She had been taught to be a leader for her people and was now the public face of Motunui, who had to be there to take charge of the future of her tribe. At least for now they hadn’t had many problems with those who came. Some other biting look when they were told that the real chief of Motunui was her and not her father, with whom they were trying to start a conversation. Apparently the idea that a woman could be head of a village wasn’t quite widespread outside their little paradise. She was the head of a prosperous land which dozens of adventurers crossed the seas to visit guided by riches and legends. No one was going to take it off of her.

However, even though her days were busy and complete, her nights were cold and lonely. Neither the presence of Pua and Hei Hei had calmed the emptiness in her chest. Maui had said goodbye the moment he had left them at home and she missed him with every breath passed her lips. Would he be ok? Would his wounds have healed? At night she would lie down in an empty bed stretching her hand in search of a presence that was not there. The palm of her hands itching for the warmth she had shared for so many days and her heart throbbed solitary waiting for a chord that would never join hers. How could her spirit yearn so much for a person? Would the rest of the world feel the same way about other people? How do they endure it? Looking over her shoulder looking for a cheeky smile that had disappeared, chasing eyes that were not looking, expect a whisper in her ear that never hears.

She wanted a day to come where they would never have to say goodbye and that emptiness would disappear forever.

She sighed for the thirteenth time as she had done throughout the day, and stirred the fire with a stick without much excitement.

"You seem a little distracted," said a voice at her side. She jumped suddenly and turned to see Siaki. The young man had been a breath of fresh air on the island, and the one who had noticed most of it, besides the fishermen, was Arona. The young woman had fallen madly in love with the man as soon as she saw him coming down from the canoe. Her attitude had become sweeter and more flirtatious, and the time she had spent teasing other boys or chasing her with uncomfortable questions about her marriage with Maui, was used in her official courting with the new member of the family. Moana had not been able to do anything but rejoice fervently over their future union despite her uncomfortable little time on the island with Siaki weeks ago.

"Moana?" She shook her head without realizing that she had lost herself in her thoughts without taking notice of the newcomer.

"Yes, I'm sorry, sorry. I was somewhere else," she apologized with an embarrassed smile.

"I saw," he said, looking at the fire, and she exclaimed, hitting several blackened vegetables with the stick, trying to save them. They were so damaged that they would be unable to trade with them. She sighed again. More work for her already exhausting day.

"Shit... I'm sorry, again ... I've had a couple of bad days where everything goes wrong." She apologized again, throwing more vegetables on the fire and promising herself to be attentive this time.

"You've been like this ever since you came back from your trip, more or less."

"Yes I know. It's just that I've come across so many new things here. I never imagined seeing so many travelers in Motunui and everyone on other islands are talking about us. It’s a lot of daily work to try to please all the merchants. I've been exhausted for days without wanting anything other than to get away from here to another adventure. At least I could sleep at night for a time."

Siaki was silent for a few seconds and bent toward her for privacy.

"It's because of him, it isn’t? For Maui."

"Eh? What? No, I mean, yes, no, well, I miss him, but he's not to blame. He had to go. I mean, it's not bad either because he's not here or anything, we don’t have to live on the same island or anything."

"But you would like it," he interrupted. She stopped talking, closing her mouth with a _click_. Would she like that? Maui in Motunui, living here with her, going to fish together, taking care of the work and the new visitors... She shook her head.

"Maui would feel trapped here. He hates politics and work, prefers to be out there flying in search of adventures. I envy him a lot."

"That doesn’t mean it wouldn’t make you feel better."

"It would be good to have him here, I miss him, it's true. I have been sleeping bad for a few days but he has nothing to do with it. I've gotten used to sleeping with someone, that's all."

He chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

"That you have not noticed it yet," he rose, ready to leave.

"Wait, What I have not noticed?"

He turned and leaned against one of the posters of the cabin.

"When we had our date," she made a sour grin that he politely ignored, starting again. "When we had our date, and I’m sure you don’t remember, you were just talking about one thing."

Moana raised an eyebrow and tried her luck, dragging the words without much confidence.

"About... coconuts?"

"About Maui, Moana, you kept talking about Maui. It was one of the things that pushed me back. I mean, it is exciting to learn of your adventures and to know more about a legendary god like him but you spoke about him... I don’t know, _different_. You didn’t stop."

"He's a demigod, not a god," she corrected, unable to help herself. Siaki's face lit up and pointed.

"You see? By that I mean, you've missed the point. We're talking about you talking about Maui and you've changed the subject to talk about him." She looked up at him with a raised eyebrow blinking slowly several times.

"Do you want to explain what me talking about Maui has to do with anything?"

"It’s not obvious?"

"No, none of this is obvious, what should I have noticed?"

He let out a laugh, camouflaging a snort and turned away from the post to leave with a last sentence that was burned in the mind of Moana:

"That you're in love with him."

 

* * *

 

Moana rolled over in bed again. It was well into the night and had not yet fallen asleep. She hadn’t slept well since she arrived, but tonight had nothing to do with her friend's longing but words that had been burned in her mind and she couldn’t stop thinking about them. They were simple:

 _That you're in love with him_ . In love with _him_ , with _him_ , _Maui._

She had denied it, of course. She in love with Maui? That was nonsense. But now that she had spent time alone she had been able to analyze her thoughts with sincerity. Maui was her best friend, that's for sure. But that didn’t mean anything, she had many friends, not better, like him, but other friends, and she had not felt anything for them.

But she couldn’t deny that she hadn’t experienced with them, half of what had happened with him. She had never stripped naked in front of anyone, nor slept beside another body... and of course she would never have asked anyone for a lesson like what she asked of Maui. She blushed, embarrassed by the memories. During her travels she had slept with him and hadn’t had time to just be _alone_ . Maui had made it clear that _this_ kind of thing had to be left for her when she was in private and now that she was back home she had been too exhausted and melancholy to remember _it_. It was the most pleasant sensation she had ever felt. She decided to discard ideas to one side for the night and to think more of herself to see if she could fall asleep with this little bit of help. She turned on her back, half opened her thighs, and pulled her dress up slightly for better mobility. She winced as her dry fingers grazed the sensitive area and remembered that Maui had told her to use saliva or oil. She put her hands to her mouth and dropped a little saliva on the tips of the fingers, lubricating them awkwardly. Moisture wrought miracles for her senses, letting her digits slide easily. She let out a sigh of pleasure, extending her legs wider. The first time it was Maui who kept them apart for her, holding them apart with his huge hands. His whole body had been pressed against her nakedness. She could feel his muscles tensing beneath her, how his breath moved her rhythmically with each exhalation. And that final moment when she had stretched her neck, lost in the sea of pleasure begging him to help her get to that point, and he had pulled her hair and bit the exact spot between her shoulder and her neck while squeezing one of her nipples with such a delicacy that she felt herself dying at that moment...

Her back arched and her mouth opened in a muffled groan with the legs as open as her position allowed her and she allowed herself to be carried to the border of bursts and bursts of pure and delicious ecstasy.

She sank into her nest of tapestries with her thighs jerking under the blankets with the last tremors of her climax and closed her eyes tightly trying to avoid thinking that it was, in fact, the memory of Maui's hands upon her that had caused her body to explode in its final heyday.

She covered herself with the blankets, arranged her dress and turned to stand aside and have a view of the tapestry where she marked the days of Maui’s visits. Her hands went to her pendant and pulled out the hook tightening it between her trembling digits. She was impatient and terrified because something was certain: she needed Maui in her life in a way she had never needed anyone.

 

* * *

 

Sina glanced around repeatedly at Tui, who shrugged, again. The three of them had sat down to eat as a family, and Moana had been behaving peculiarly. She was always the soul of meetings: always telling her new experiences at sea, new islands, discoveries, talking about her adventures... but now she was absent and she kept playing with her finger on the cooked fish that she had in front of her without having tried a bite yet. Her mind was lost in a pleasant smile, strong arms and friendly, kind eyes. She could scarcely count the days until the mountain burned again to call the demigod. She smiled foolishly recalling one of their adventures years ago where Maui had confronted an army of chickens in a island. The animals apparently had an enormous fascination for his toes and had been chasing him all over the place trying to get one of the digits. Maui had screamed, thrown chickens into the air and even turned into a hawk to be able to stay in the trees. She gave a small laugh. That night they had gone to a clearing, lay down, and Maui had re-named all the stars around them, telling stories behind them and where he had been.

The first few times she had drunk of his words, but after listening to him so often she had been more concerned with observing his reactions and looking at those deep brown eyes in the dark. That morning she had awakened in his arms, the first few times had been uncomfortable and strange, but as it repeated, Moana had begun to enjoy the waking sensation wrapped in the Maui’s warmth and that had been derived to her last and newly found feelings. He had been as always, indifferent to something so mundane for a demigod as sleeping with someone. She still remembered his breath on her forehead, stroking her hair, and her head tucked against his broad chest. She didn’t know how long he'd been watching him sleep until he half opened his eyes and smiled at her. It was one of the most beautiful smiles she had ever seen and couldn’t help replying with a "good morning". She hadn’t even been offended when he'd called her princess.

Moana looked at her parents. They both returned to their food quickly, both of them making it clear that nothing was happening. She sighed and clenched her fists to fill with courage.

"Dad, mom, I have something to tell you." They both looked at her in surprise. Moana sniffed and said seriously, "I think I like someone."

The two looked at each other in surprise with their mouths open. Sina feared the worst.

"What? Who? Is he a village man or did you meet him on one of your trips?"

"Mom, please, I need you to listen to me... I... I think... I think I like... _him_."

"Him?” Sina panted, holding a hand to her chest as if she did know who _him_ was.

"Yes, _him_ , Maui."

Her parents froze for a moment. Suddenly her father began to laugh with a hearty laugh, choking on food. She had never heard him laugh like this.

"Tui!" Sina complained, but she couldn’t help smiling.

"What are you laughing at? I mean it!" Her father's laughter grew louder and he ended up banging his fist against his chest when a piece of fish went down the wrong pipe. Sina got up to hit him on the back with her palm.

"We know you mean it," Tui said, wiping a tear. Moana looked at her mother in surprise.

"Mom?"

"Moana, we are your parents... what is so strange to us is that you took so much time to realize it. We thought you were already together. In the new island you disappeared every day and you were always talking about him or a dodgy mood when you said goodbye..."

"What? No! We're just friends," he interrupted, flushed with embarrassment.

"Oh, come on, Moana. You reminded us so much of your father and me when we were young. It's obvious you're not just friends."

"But... aren’t you angry? I thought you were going to have trouble, that I was going to have to tell you all the reasons and..."

"Us, be mad because you're in love with your husband??" said Tui in a hoarse voice by the laughter, and a little more recovered and serious. She lowered her head without speaking. Such was her relationship with Maui and her parents that she hardly remembered that he was really her husband. She had always treated him as if things hadn't changed between them, even the fight of their marriage had been totally forgotten and forgiven.

"He knows?" Sina asked softly. She shook her head.

"I'm afraid to tell him. What if he doesn’t feel the same way? What if I destroy our friendship? He has already said that he is not interested in a relationship with mortals... I don’t even know if he is in love with someone. I mean, he's never laid a hand on me, not at all, even when..."

"Young lady, without details," Tui interrupted her bitingly. As happy as he was for her, he was still her father.

"If he had been in love with someone else, he wouldn’t have committed himself to you," her mother said sympathetically.

"Yes, but he has been, he told me."

Sina knelt beside her and stroked her hair, putting a lock behind her ear.

"You are young, the most beautiful woman on the island, you are intelligent, brave and unique. Maui will not have been able to resist your charms, honey. Be honest with him."

Moana didn’t feel as brave in those moments as her family believed.

 

* * *

 

 

The celebration was at its peak when the hawk burst from the sky, flying to the center of the gathering and with a bluish _click,_ transformed into Maui and fell to the ground with a shout of joy. The whole tribe erupted in cheers and praises. They pulled away as a figure approached him. Maui stopped beating his chest and strutting when he recognized the woman.

"Did you miss me?" he asked.

"Always." Moana stood on tiptoe and passed the lei over his head. He bowed a few seconds in sign of respect and friendship and smiled.

"Happy Birthday."

"Did you bring me a present?" Maui presumed leaning back to expand his chest by brushing the hair off his face with a practiced head movement.

"The best of all, princess."

She laughed and made her way to where her parents were with him following closely.

"I didn’t know if you were coming."

"I wasn’t going to miss it, mortals throw the best parties."

"I'm guessing you just came for the food, didn’t you?"

Mini Maui cheered up and nodded compulsively. Moana shook her head, a half smile lighting her face. Sina and Tui were delighted to welcome him and give him a place of honor at their side.

"Even though I think it's not the first time you came to a birthday," Sina said, looking at him sideways as she handed him a coconut with clams.

"But it's the first time I can eat for myself," he defended himself, joking. He had never been to the party before, he had only come to see her. He had only stayed that last year before their wedding when he had shapeshifted into an iguana. No doubt the food tasted much better now.

"How was your last trip?" Tui asked. "She didn’t want to tell us much."

He swallowed sharply, knowing that Moana would have omitted the details of their descent and attack at Lalotai to avoid possible fights and bans. Her parents had ceased to be so strict about the sea once they sailed but they were still her parents.

"Without many setbacks, we visited Whetu Island for the night."

"An interesting whale experience, I heard, too," Sina replied. Moana had told him that her mother had a fascination with animals, and he didn’t know if she meant it seriously or with scorn.

"I thought it would be fun, you know, new experiences."

"Yes, but we would have preferred not to lose the canoe."

"Dad," moaned Moana. Tui went back to his food. Obviously she had not told them that there was no canoe to lose.

"I've seen the trade come to Motunu," Maui said, trying to change the conversation. With this new topic, Tui was open and enthusiastic and spent the evening talking about the new products and asking Maui what kind of market existed in his time.

"What I do recommend is a lighthouse," he explained.

"A lighthouse?" Sina asked, motivated by the incredible talk.

"Yes, you know, a bonfire high on a peak that guides the ships at night. That will help the navigators and will attract them here which will improve the trade."

"And how do you make a lighthouse?" Tui asked.

"It's like a normal bonfire. You could use oils to keep it burning at night and it would take a caretaker to watch over it but they are a lot of help..."

A noise of whistling and shouting distracted them from their conversation. Moana raised her head crowned with flowers and stood up quickly.

Maui looked at her parents with a raised eyebrow.

"It's dance time," Sina murmured between her teeth.

The dancers placed themselves in several rows and in their respective positions raising their arms with the palms down waiting for the music and the song. At the sound of the first notes their hips turned and moved in unison as if they were following the waves of the sea and the tides. Their arms curled around them and feet moved as if guided by magic threads. It was obvious that they were the best and most beautiful dancers who had gathered in this dance but Maui only had eyes for one. She was impressive: her hair was like fire lit by torches and turning to the rhythm of her twists, her skin shone as if bathed in the finest oils of emperors and old kings, her hips billowing like liquid lava, her cheeks burning with the illusion and the effort, her skirt that showed the dark strokes of the tattoos on her long legs with floral decorations on her ankles...

Suddenly the music stopped and the dancers were in a fixed position for a few moments until they turned to the audience to thank them for their compliments and flatteries.

"Good, huh?" Sina asked, leaning forward next to Tui to look at Maui.

"The most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life," he blurted out, still staring at the huge white-teeth grin. Sina hid a smile. From Maui's face she didn’t know if he meant the dance or if the answer had come only for one of the dancers. In which case she made no comment. Moana smiled at the other dancers who hugged and gave affectionate squeezes and strode toward them with glazed strides.

"How was it?" she asked, sitting between Maui and her father.

"It's was beautiful. I'm glad Nyree was able to learn the steps." Moana smiled at her mother.

"She worked hard." She picked up her cup made from coconut shells and held it to her lips to rehydrate. "We know she offered to dance to impress Kamea." She grinned playfully. "And we are sure she has."

"Kamea?" Tui asked in surprise. "I thought Kamea was with Napo."

"What?" Moana gasped, coughing loudly and slamming her chest hard.

"We found them next to the stream months ago when we went for cane."

"Why didn't you tell me?" She put her hands to her head, clutching two strands of hair. "She's going to be so sad, she's worked so hard..."

"I didn’t know anyone else was interested in him."

"And Napo, Napo! He is one of the most popular guys, they all adore him."

"But he doesn’t date anyone."

"Until now," Moana complained sadly to her friend.

"Until now."

"I thought I was waiting for the perfect girl... I should go talk to them and especially Nyree..."

"Don’t you think it's better to wait until tomorrow?" Sina asked softly.

"No." Moana rose to her feet, "decidedly not, she was planning to tell him after the party. Are you coming with me?" she asked Maui.

"I'm right behind you, chosen one."

Both left the house of the chiefs with a last farewell to their parents and went down the stairs quickly joining the crowd at the bottom. Seeing that he was going to have trouble going through such a crowd compared to his friend, Maui jumped on the last step and turned into a honeybee spreading his little brown wings and flying overhead.

"Where are you going to find them? There are a lot of people here," Maui said flying next to her shoulder.

"The couples usually go by the river in search of privacy. I'm sure they're there, I know Nyree's favorite place. I'm sure she's taken him there."

Before reaching into the dark foliage she grabbed a torch so she could see her steps and not stumble. Once inside the forest Maui shapeshifted into a human again to run beside her. He heard a sound of footsteps behind and saw Pua chasing them with his mouth open with Hei Hei riding him with vacant eyes.

He turned just in time to stop suddenly without crashing and throwing Moana to the ground, standing on tiptoe with his arms outstretched trying to control the momentum forward. He could feel the little pig leaning against his right leg.

"Mo, what-?" He was silent when he saw why she had stopped. Siaki and Arona had come out holding hands from behind a tree and looked at them in shock. Passing through the middle of the jungle running in the middle of the night, Maui assumed that their physical appearance undone and filled with leaves and twigs was quite comical.

"What are you doing?" Arona asked, blinking in surprise.

"We've been looking for Kamea and Nyree. Have you seen them?"

"No, we've been here for a while and we haven’t seen anyone. We were on our way home," Siaki replied with a worried frown. "Has something happened?"

"Nyree wanted to confess her feelings tonight but Kamea is already dating someone."

"Of course, with Napo."

"Am I the only one who didn’t know it?" She made an oblique gesture raising her hands uncomfortably.

"It seems to be," Arona chuckled. "I saw Napo as we came here but that was a while ago."

"Do you know where he was going?" Arona gave Moana a look full of insinuation. She responded with another groan.

"Of course, this can only get better," she murmured sarcastically. "Thanks, I'll see if I find them," she said, sprinting away.

"Sure, have a good time." She heard the scream in the distance as they got lost in the night. They walked silently searching through the shadows.

"I'm hearing the river, we must be close."

"I'm almost jealous of them," she let the thought escape as they walked. Maui raised a confused eyebrow.

"You had your chance with the boy and you let it pass."

"No," she said with a groan of disgust, "I mean their relationship. They are very much in love. I would like to become like this one day."

"You just have to find the right person," he replied.

"I've already found it," she whispered.

Maui went to respond when a sound alerted them.

"That sounds like..." began Maui, tensing.

"It's Nyree, she seems to be in trouble." Moana snapped her tongue and rushed to where the whine came. She passed a huge tree and encountered a peculiar scene. Yes, she had found Nyree and Kamea… and Napo. All three lay on the ground in a sea of limbs and gasps erratically moving. She opened her mouth, if it was to talk or for the surprise, she didn’t have time to find out; a huge hand caught her face and pulled her back, grabbing the torch and throwing it through the air until it disappeared, already off, in some corner of the forest. Pressed between the palm of his hand and a burly body, she tensed as she heard the voices.

"Did you hear anything?" Asked a male voice.

"Concentrate," said another, "it must have been an animal."

Seconds later the moans and gasps again. Maui sighed behind her and set her free.

"That was close," Maui whispered leaning against the tree. Mini Maui leaned behind an island and wiped his sweat with his forearm. "If you had let me finish, you would have known that these were not sounds of pain but of-"

"So that's it?" Moana interrupted again turning to him. "Is that how it's done?"

"More or less, yes."

"I didn’t know it was so-"

"Noisy? Pleasurable?"

"Energetic," she snapped. She had only seen the farm animals in such situations and they hadn’t moved the same or made the same fuss. It seemed like a lot of effort. Maui laughed at her innocence. "Is it normal that there are three people?" she frowned.

"Normal? Yes, usual? No. There is nothing abnormal in sex, let the rules guide the people and let everyone decide what, or who they want in their bed."

"I thought it was something that was done in pairs."

"Some people need more than one partner." He shook his head to leave, giving them privacy. Moana followed him with one hand grasping his wrist so as not to get lost in the night.

"But they were two boys and a girl. I know there are couples of men and couples of women but I didn’t know that there was something like that."

"Not everything is white or black, you may like boys or girls, both at once or none."

"Do you like…?" she asked in a whisper unable to finish the question.

"I like. Period. I've had both male and female partners."

She blinked in surprise.

"Have you been with men?"

"I have lived for thousands of years. If it talks, thinks, breathes and has a pulse, I may have fucked it. It’s not so much and one ends up getting tired and leaving aside the carnal relations. It ends up being boring and... you feel empty. When you do it with a special person it's totally different. "He pushed aside a couple of palm leaves and hit the beach directly. The moon was full at its peak and the vegetation was behind so that they now had better visibility. They took a couple of steps to the bank and sat down.

"You said you lived thousands of years," said Moana, unable to put the conversation aside, "but you have never married."

The sigh of Maui was a mixture of annoyance and bitterness.

"The first centuries of my life, when I was young and all I wanted was to have fun, I had a lot of relationships. I am ashamed to say that several at the same time on different islands -" he grimaced "- and some on the same island. I didn’t want to get married, at that time I just wanted to know how many people I could sleep with in less than twenty-four hours. I was a demigod who did great deeds and helped mankind. And, everything has to be said, I'm very hot, right?" He inflated his chest, making a gesture to push his hair over his head.

"Maui..." she called in a bored tone making him see that he was missing the point.

"I continue..." he gave a strong exhalation annoyed by the lack of compliments to his body and have to keep recounting something like this of his life. He was young and now he had learned through the years and experience but it was still something that he was embarrassed to speak about and it was not because he had done it to many people. Really, Moana was the only person he had sat down to talk about.

"By my successes I had interested people where I was going, but soon it became... unbearable. One thing is that somebody to love you for your body or because you’re a demigod, and another to be with a person you love, that feeling is totally different, even the sensations are different. Then I realized that wherever I went or I was with, they couldn’t conceive. The first few times I thought it was pure demigod luck but as the centuries went by I wanted to start a family and I realized I couldn’t. The one night couples were great, don’t get me wrong, but I wanted to... I wanted..." he stared at the front, quite broken. "I wanted to return from a mission and go back home with my partner, my equal, have a couple of kids to teach them to throw the hook..."

"How many children did you want to have?" Moana asked in a sad whisper.

"One or two hundred," he said, totally serious. They both laughed at the little joke that hid inside a sour feeling: no matter how many he had wanted, never had any and possibly never could.

"I got tired of a different face every night and a name that was obviously false or I was not going to remember the next morning," he continued as if there had been no interruption. "But women don’t want to get married if nothing is going to come out of it; Want to raise a family, have children, raise them and move on, getting older with the man they love. I am stuck in an adult appearance forever and I can't bear children. I saw many old lovers die that after realizing that they had nothing to do with me they had followed their own lives and formed families with other people. I wanted someone in my life... but it was hard for someone to love me in theirs."

Moana nodded, she herself had been forced into a marriage for a forced conception. The women were obliged to have and raise the children to maintain the population of the island. The children would become future workers supporting agriculture and fishing so that they could move forward. A woman without children was considered no woman at all.

"And you no longer have anyone?" she shrugged. "And with other demigods?" Maui snorted.

"How many other demigods do you know? I can assure you that I am the most sympathetic," he sneered, shaking his head. "I don’t get along with them, a little because of how I am, but it wasn’t much fun for them for me to benefit the humans against them, they think I've abandoned them for mortals. And it's hard to find someone when you're stuck for a thousand years on an island. All my old friends and acquaintances are dead."

"But you've already left the island and you've had enough time." She shrank back, drawing her legs to her chest. Maui remained silent for a few minutes.

"My priorities seem to have changed," he finally said in a soft voice. "Now I like to spend my days looking for islands and places for you to discover, fighting with monsters, going to Lalotai..."

"And coming here," Moana reminded him, Maui's broken smile made her think that perhaps it was something he hadn’t forgotten but something he didn’t want to say out loud.

"And coming here," he repeated more quietly. "I really like coming here," he said sincerely.

"I have told you many times: you can stay here."

He shook his head.

"I can’t. Not yet."

"When, if not now? Now is the best moment."

"You're still too young to notice it," he teased quietly. A _click_ sounded in Moana's mind. It's true she was young but she was not stupid. Maui decided to get up "I think it's time for me to leave."

Moana also rose, alerting Pua and Hei Hei who had followed them to the beach and had almost fallen asleep beside them. Maui took a couple of steps until the water touched his feet, ready to lift the hook and fly away.

"Actually, I've noticed a lot of things in your absence," she began, her voice unsure but firm behind his back. Maui snorted and turned to face her.

"Surely yes."

"No, I assure you," she claimed. He raised his eyebrow at how sure her voice had sounded now.

"And what did you notice?"

Moana smiled and put her hands behind her back.

"That you owe me a birthday present," she said with a triumphant smile. Maui's shoulders sank subtly to someone who didn’t know him as well as she did. His reluctance didn’t change her mind.

"You had the mighty Maui on your birthday, what more do you want?"

"I think you have something better." This time he looked at her strangely.

"Don’t look at me like that, I know you have something better."

"I don’t have anything with me." His eyes dropped until he could see her hiding her hands behind her back.

"I don’t think so, close your eyes."

Maui looked at her in confusion, she repeated the command and he obeyed with a sigh of feigned exasperation.

Moana approached him nervously. Her legs trembled and her knees shook together. She took advantage of the slope of the beach to get on tiptoe and, grabbing the lei and his collar of fangs, got him to become unstable and leaned enough so that she could get to brush his lips with her owns. Maui let out a surprised snort and stared at her with wide-eyed eyes as she pulled away from the kiss, only a few millimeters from her mouth, sharing the breath and heat of their bodies together.

 

 "Moana" he began with a broken moan, "no..."

"Shh..." she whispered, covering his lips with two fingers, noticing the softness of his skin. "I haven’t done this because I wanted to learn, I have not done it because I _should do it_ , or for any reason other than because _I wanted to_ . I really wanted you to kiss me, give me my first kiss, couldn’t be anyone else but you. Not because you are Maui, but because you are _you_."

Maui's face twitched in pain but his arms wrapped around her and he lowered the hand that covered his mouth.

"But it was a gift to me," he whispered, his voice cracking. Moana grunted inquiringly. "You _gave me_ your first kiss."

She frowned.

"Is that so? Then give it back to me" before he could respond, she stood on tiptoe and brushed his lips again. The kiss lasted for a few seconds but it stole their breath.

When Maui pulled back, he blinked and leaned back to kiss her. This time his lips pressed harder, hungry. Moana embraced his shoulders and he wrapped her waist, squeezing together. When they let each other go, they were breathing heavily with red, swollen lips, and color on their cheeks.

"I think I'll keep it for now," he said against her battered mouth. "I'll give it back to you next time."

"I'll be waiting."

Maui stroked her hips with his thumbs and stepped back from her. He bent to pick up his forgotten hook and continued to retreat, unable to look away from her.

"Good night, Maui."

"Good night, Moana." With a shout of joy, he lifted the hook and shapeshifted into a hawk. Once in the air he spun happily and flew away with a loud squeal and became lost in the night.

Moana laughed at that sign of happiness and looked back to the ground where Pua was sitting, hiding his face with his ears in shame and Hei Hei looked at her with one eye without understanding very well what was happening around him.

"Let's go, they'll wonder what happened to us," she told them. The three of them made their way back to the village. She stopped before entering the jungle and put her fingers to her lips remembering his warmth and smiled, imagining her parents face when she told them. No doubt this had become her favorite birthday.

 

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fanarts:  
> [Moana fallling in the waters of Lalotai](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/) by [MagicFishHook](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/)  
> [Moana and Maui stargazing](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/post/162433996786/last-of-my-24h-request-moana-and-maui) by [MagicFishHook](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/). This fanart was a request but was perfect for a part of this fic so I decided to post it here.  
> [First Kiss](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/post/162683959421/first-kiss-illustration-for-the-fic-fire-and) by [MagicFishHook](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Explanation of content:  
> -Warrior face, is taken from the song they removed from the film and they sang in the extras. [[Youtube]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuaIgx2ACME)  
> -Lalotai's lights are drawn from both Moana's film and Avatar's, the grass shining when you stepped on it.  
> -Fe'e means "Octopus" and, from what I have read, is a Samoan warrior god that has the form of an octopus. I don’t know if Maui can transform into Fe'e, but I found it viable for history. I also heard about him with the name Kanaloa.  
> -[The lizard they fight with is the one that comes out in the background of Lalotai in the film.](http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/3/37/The_Realm_of_Monsters_%28Moana_-_2016%29.png/revision/latest?cb=20170226012651)  
> -Maui's past is invented, but, as I said in previous chapters, sexuality on the Polynesian islands was very different from what is now, and homosexuality was not frowned upon and was conceived as something natural in the tribes. In the notes of other chapters you can find links to that information, if you are interested.  
> -Whetu doesn’t exist, means Star in Te Reo. It is based on Island Whakaari or White Island.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, I just got back from my vacation and there were still a couple of brush strokes before we could update the chapter.  
> In this chapter appear characters from the island in Chapter 3, if you have as bad a memory as I do, reread that chapter to remember them. It will be easier to understand this one.
> 
> ***THIS CHAPTER HAS A NSFW FANART***

"No no no! Hei Hei stays," she shouted, slamming her foot to the floor. The Kakamoras beat their bodies with their hands causing little hollow sounds but they didn’t let go the poor Hei Hei, who had been grabbed by the neck by one of the three small coconuts.

This had been one of the strangest things she'd encountered since they established the trade route. One morning while she was teaching the little girls to paint the tapestries with drawings, a couple of friends came to warn her that her parents called her from the commercial port they had established next to the reef. She thought that was strange but ran to see what they needed. She had bumped into a small boat of kakamoras who tried to communicate with whistles and clicks with a bewildered Tui. At first she had been a little tense and quite aggressive but finally realized that they only came to trade, and Tui had ordered her to be respectful to every sailor who passed through the island regardless of race, gender or species. Sina had been enthusiastic about them, such an animal-lover that she was, and she couldn’t help but pick one up with great interest screaming "They are adorable!"

Finally she had been forced to trade with them and every now and then she could see a small boat of kakamoras arriving at Motunui. The only problem was that they weren’t easy to understand, they were quite deceptive and liked to haggle too much, they hated to lose in the transactions and this time they had decided to get Hei Hei, something that wasn’t going to happen no matter how much they wanted.

The Kakamora snapped again, pointing at her, then at her ship and then at the chicken. Moana opened her mouth in indignation as a shriek passed through the island and a familiar shadow passed over them. The coconuts, frightened, released Hei Hei and with a leap they ran terrified to their boat and hid in it. She looked up at the sky with a smile: Maui was visiting.

She quickly left what she was doing and ran to where Maui had gone. Her heart throbbed with ecstasy and emotion. She had spent two busy weeks with no time for anything but passing out on her bed every night. She always promised herself that the next day she would call but had never got a second free to go up the mountain to light the fire and less to skip a couple of hours of her tasks and get lost in the jungle with her... friend?

She stopped suddenly. What was Maui to her? No, that was not the question. She knew that her feelings for the demigod existed, she didn’t know how much but there they were, but what about Maui? What was she to him? One of his many dates? One of his stories? One of those women he've forgotten already? No, not that, because he had admitted to being in multiple romances but he had never touched her even if she asked for it.

Her footsteps were short and silent as her mind filled with unanswered questions. Maybe it hadn’t changed anything. It had really only been a kiss, well, several and quite nice kisses but surely he would have had more and better. They had spent two weeks without seeing each other, in two weeks he could have been able to change his mind. He could have entered into reason during the time of their separation and realized that they really weren’t prepared for anything more than simple friendship.

She soon found herself in the clearing where Maui had landed. The demigod was standing in all his grace with the hook firmly grasped in one hand. His posture was tense with his head down and his feet were shuffling on small stones and grass. He seemed to be muttering under his breath, unable to keep still. Moana swallowed nervously, what should she do? Noticed a nudge on her leg and looked down to see Pua and Hei Hei, the pig frowned at her and bumped her leg again with his head.

It was obvious what she had to do. She sucked in air, puffed her chest, clenched her fists at her side, and stepped out of the shadows. But as she advanced, the insecurity was increasing in her chest, what to say? what to do? Why was he here? How to react? Her foot stepped on a branch and it made a mighty crack. She didn’t know if it had been so loud from the general silence or from the nerves she felt. One way or another, Maui turned toward the sound, meeting her eyes.

They both looked at each other in surprise. Maui swallowed and smiled very unconvincingly.

"Mo!" He exclaimed. "How did you go? eh… Do you miss me? Eh..." He avoided her gaze with a hysterical grimace. Moana opened and closed her mouth several times until she finally found what to say.

"What are you doing here?" Okay, maybe it was not the right thing to ask. Maui confirmed it when he tensed and laughed nervously, bringing a hand to the back of his neck, ashamed.

"Well... I... it's been two weeks and..." he growled. "Sorry, obviously you were busy, I don’t know what was going through my head. Forget it."

He turned abruptly, ready to leave. Moana took a step forward and grabbed his arm.

"No, wait, yes, I was busy. I'm busy, "she corrected. "It's been two exhausting weeks and I've hardly even had time to rest and much less to call you. I would have been bad to make you come if I couldn’t spend time with you because of my chores. But, yes, Maui, I missed you... very much." He turned slowly, so slowly that he seemed to do so for fear of having heard wrong and that he was actually being accused or rejected. Moana blushed.

"I missed you, too," he said sincerely. "It's been two weeks and you didn’t call me so I thought..." He cleared his throat. Moana's eyes widened in shock. Maui had already told her about it, having returned from a mission and finding the person he had come to find in a life with another. She smiled sadly, it was obvious that Maui had the same doubts as she, and, from his previous experiences, his doubts had a basis more than mere products of his fears. She rested her palm against his chest, just below his collar of fangs.

"I wanted to call you from the second you left," she admitted softly. Maui visibly relaxed with the contact and the whispered words.

"Mo..."

"I was nervous, too." She gave a little hysterical laugh. "I thought you had changed your mind... you know, the kiss..." She closed her mouth, looking away, her face blushing with embarrassment.

"No, of course not," he said in a tone that revealed how absurd that idea sounded to him. Moana looked into his eyes with a small shy smile. Maui bowed slightly, giving her every opportunity to pull away. She didn’t. When their lips met again, Moana groaned, raising her hands up his chest to encircle his neck. He encircled her waist and lifted her into his arms, lifting her over him. They shared a long, hungry kiss, sighing and panting between touches as if they had just found water after a month in the ocean. After a last kiss Maui brushed her cheek with his mouth and descended until giving a slight kiss in her jugular making her moan with pleasure, twisting in his arms.

"Maui..." she gasped, pressing her hands on his shoulders.

"Moana!" They heard from a distance. By the voice she supposed he would be her father; He would have discovered that she had left her post unoccupied and that it was taking too long to return. Maui lowered her gently to the ground and stepped back in spite of Moana's reproach.

"You have to go."

"I know," she murmured something annoying. She raised her eyes to look at him. "Will you stay?"

"I'll stay here all day with you if you want."

"I would love it," she replied with a radiant smile.

"Moana!" She heard the scream, this time closer. She grunted in exasperation.

"I'm coming! I'm coming! Are you coming?

"Right behind you." Moana held out her hand and he looked at her in astonishment but caught it without hesitation. Once their hands were joined she ran to where Tui was calling. Needless to say, his angry face and the possible anger disappeared when her daughter reappeared on the beach with a smile radiant like the sun and an equally happy demigod holding hands.

"I'm glad to have you here again," Tui said when they reached him.

"I'm glad to be here," Maui said.

"We should thank you for providing Motunui so generously. If it was not for you, I doubt very much that we would be able to trade with all who arrived." Maui smirked. It had been part of the deal to take care of Motunui after his marriage to the chief's daughter but the increase in size and quality of the crops had been something that he had self imposed.

"You'll have to take care of the next traders until the afternoon. Then I'll come and take over." Moana smiled at her father's words. Having the free afternoon meant spending more time alone with Maui before he left.

"Thank you, Dad," he nodded as a reply.

"Now go, you have an island to run."

Moana and Maui ran off to the makeshift port. Maui frowned suddenly.

"I knew I'd seen something weird, but I figured it was my imagination, is that Kakamoras?" He pointed to the canoe Moana had been discussing when he arrived. The heads of four coconuts poked through the hold and they hid quickly as they realized they were being  talked about.

"They're harmless, more or less." Moana shrugged. "And my father doesn’t want us to reject anyone because of his species. Everyone who comes to Motunui peacefully is welcome."

"You never know what those hollow heads are up to," said the demigod.

"I know, but we haven’t had any problems for now. Well, apart from when they tried to eat Hei Hei, but they aren’t the first nor will be the last ones so, who are we to judge? Besides," she glanced him over her shoulder with a grin,"it wouldn’t be the first time that _I_ had beaten a horde of Kakamoras by myself.

Maui gave an indignant laugh.

"Excuse me? _I_ saved us from them."

"What I remember is you trying to escape, _I_ recovered Te Fiti's heart." She put her hands on her hips and raised her head defensively, emphasizing the _I_.

"The fate of the novice," he dismissed her with a sneer. Moana opened her mouth to speak when she noticed a group of voices that had begun to increase behind them. She turned and could see a small group pointing to the demigod and whispering between them covering their hands without dissimulation.

Maui frowned, beginning to remember these kinds of situations.

"Maui?" Was heard in the crowd. He drew his chest and moved his hair back as he had practiced and waited for his fans.

"That's right, it's me, Maui," he said aloud, backed by a horde of voices and exclamations of astonishment. Soon he was surrounded by his entourage as he gloated over the praises and compliments. Moana stepped back, trying to free herself from the sudden crush. She was not accustomed to such a large number of people in such a small space. She was ignored by everyone present who only had eyes for the demigod. So absorbed they were trying to get ahead of him by going over her that somebody hit her in the face with an elbow. Moana shrieked away and shrugged into herself, clutching at her sore nose, a gesture not unnoticed by Maui.

His arrogant smile turned into a grimace of fury.

"Hey!" He shouted at the man who had struck her unconsciously. They all turned back in alarm, letting him pass until they reached her. He stroked her back, worried, leaning down to see her better. "You okay?"

"Yeah, it was just a dumb blow, I'm fine," she replied with a smile-like grin and a tear at the corner of her eye caused by the sudden impact. Maui turned to the group, his jaw clenched.

"She's Moana Waialiki, chief of Motunui, a little respect for the person who opened your home," Maui exclaimed, still furious. Whispers and murmurs came back and someone shouted overhead.

"It's the rumor woman, Maui's wife." Everyone gasped in amazement. Months had passed since the first sailors and merchants had come from distant places in search of new goods and furnishings. Seeing the great productivity of Motunui, they had spoken with the islanders and they would have told the story of how Motunui had been blessed after the marriage of the chief's daughter to the demigod of the wind and the sea, Maui. Apparently those stories had gone back to other islands with those who left and passed between them so that others could see for themselves the grandeur of Maui's magic.

"She's the chief of Motunui!" shouted Maui above all of them. "And will be treated with respect for it or I swear that I will throw you all to the giant eels!"

Moana looked at Maui with her eyes sparkling with excitement and surprise. Maui wasn’t denying her a second place behind him as his wife or friend. He wasn’t asking for respect for her because she was known to a demigod. He was asking for respect for her because she was the chief, because she was the leader of her tribe, her people. She had to be respected for who she was, not for who she was married to.

A young man stepped forward with his shoulders lowered and his head down.

"I was the one who hit you, I'm sorry, I didn’t see you. It's the first time I've seen Maui and I've known him ever since I was told the stories when I was a child."

Moana smiled at him from beneath the hand that still covered her nose. Her grandmother had told her the same stories, and if it had not been because she met Maui in person and he had a most unbearable attitude, she would have been equally fascinated by him.

"I understand," she lowered her hand, showing her red nose and a little swollen from the blow. "The same happened to me the first time I saw him."

She ignored how Maui raised an eyebrow without believing a word. Their first meeting had been uncomfortable and violent. After a thousand years of solitude he first sees a human and in the first two minutes he ends up being hit in the stomach with an oar and taken by the ear by a girl of how much? eight years?

The young man answered the smile shyly and apologized again.

"Moana!" they heard behind them. Siaki was accompanied by a fishing group who had seen the congregation grouped and believed the worst. "You okay? What happened to you?" He asked, resting his hand on her cheek to study the swollen nose. She pulled him away with a soft touch.

"I'm fine, it was an accident." Siaki nodded uncomfortably and glanced at Maui, who nodded, giving him a knowing look.

"Now let everyone go back to work. If you have any questions do it now and go,"shouted Siaki trying to fade the group of curious. At the mention of the questions a large majority raised their hands quickly. Maui snorted and growled:

"Questions about the trade" there was a general groan and all dispersed.

"It would be better if you go to rest," Siaki said.

"I can’t, my father is busy in the house of carvings, and my mother is dying sails for the large canoe in the harbor."

"The fishermen are finished for today, we have removed the traps from the lagoon and placed the new ones. We have several hours free and we can take care of the carvings so that the chief Tui can take care of the ships that come."

"And the leeward traps?" she asked with a scowl, unsure.

"They're ready and we've added the crustaceans in case anyone gets interested in them tomorrow."

Now that she thought about it, It didn’t hurt as much as it did initially, but it _was_ quite swollen and uncomfortable, and it _had_ been two crazy weeks. Now Maui was here and she had the perfect excuse to get away with him for a while. And by the mischievous gleam in her friend's eyes, he knew it.

"If you think you're going to be able to convince him..."

"Of course, yes, come, go and rest, I'll take care of it."

Moana nodded before he could repent and shot Maui a knowing glance.

"Thank you, Siaki, and I'm sorry!" she said from a distance. Siaki frowned with a growing fear in her stomach. _I'm sorry why?_

If Moana knew anyone, it was her father. She knew that he wasn’t going to take well that a traveler would have harmed his daughter in any sense and less that she hadn’t personally gone to see him, the first one he saw would pay for it. But he had to understand that she had a chance to be with Maui alone for the first time in a long time and was going to take advantage of it. More now that their relationship had changed to a new aspect that she had never known before and was beginning to enjoy.

"Where are we going?" Maui asked after her.

"Where we can be alone for a couple of hours."

"They will not worry?"

"They know I'm with you."

"They know...?" Maui stopped talking and Moana stopped to look over her shoulder. _That_ was the question. Obviously she had told her mother how the night of her birthday ended but the answer she had not been able to give was; _what were they?_

"They know what?"

"About us," Maui said in a whisper. Looking around for some curious eyeballs, she turned and pressed her hands to his chest.

"Before I'd like to know what's going on, are we friends? a couple?" Maui avoided her gaze without knowing what to say. Moana sighed. "We don’t have to name it if you don’t want to. We are Moana and Maui, we enjoy spending time together and... kisses, lots of kisses... and more, I hope."

"Moana..." Maui began, but she stopped him with a gesture.

"It's okay. You told me your stories about your past relationships, I know how you feel and I understand you. I have never been in a relationship, I know nothing of it. But we don’t have to think about the future. We are here now and we both want the same thing. That's all that matters. Tomorrow has not yet arrived."

_But he would be the one who would suffer the most with tomorrow._

Those silent words floated between them. Maui swept her face with his gaze; Her brown eyes glittering in hope, her tanned skin shining in the midday sun, her lips thick with cinnamon, even her wounded and rosy nose was perfect. Would it be worth the pain of the hopeless loss if he could kiss her again?

He bent slightly and kissed her lips gently.

_Always._

 

* * *

 

Moana looked determinedly at the maps scattered around the center of the room. Her hair was tucked into a bun and her clothes were somewhat stained by coal dust, her tongue between her teeth as she measured the distances with her fingers.

"Preparing your next trip?" Said a voice behind her. She jumped with a start and turned around with a smile.

"Maui! You frightened me." He was peeking in the door. Moana had tried to call him every week but Maui had decided to go to see her every few days on his own. "Come in, I need advice."

He stared at her with a raised eyebrow, twisted uncomfortably, leaning down a little to make himself a place in the little tent. She made a spot for him to take a seat behind her and be able to see the maps over her shoulder.

"Since many sailors come to Motuni to trade we have thought that it would be well to have a ship in charge of going to other islands to do the same, but I have problems past this point" said pointing to a place in the map.

"It's Kakamora territory." Maui dismissed it, frowning at the rest of the map. "You’re not thinking of trading with them?"

"Right... maybe they'll let us in if they recognize me and trade with us."

"They are pirates, Mo, they don’t need trade. They will steal your merchandise and sink your canoe." She frowned and looked at him with a smile.

"We have something better." Maui raised an eyebrow. "You, we have you. I have to make the first trip to introduce myself to the islands to which we want to start the trade route. It's the right thing, you know. We can tell my father that you will join me in order to form a deal with the Kakamora. He will not let us leave until this problem is solved. They fear you, they will not dare attack us if you come with us."

"It's not a bad idea."

"I will talk with him. We were leaving next month."

"I'll make a hole in my schedule." He looked at the new maps with all the indications of the trade routes.

Moana had always taken note of every island she encountered but had had to re-draw them on new scrolls since the first ones she made were those she used for her trip to find Maui and were almost illegible to anyone but herself, and these would be read by navigators and future merchants.

"Why is my island marked?"

"Your island?" she scanned the maps without knowing what he was talking about.

"Where you found me."

"Ah, it's the nearest island to Motunui, I've set it up as a meeting point or in case it's ever needed."

"Are you going to ask me to go back there?"

"Humm good... you can join us later, the kakamora are several weeks away."

Maui growled low.

"I'll leave with you and stay there for a couple of hours."

"Or the night..." Maui gave her a reproachful look.

"Or the night," he said tartly. She laughed.

"Thank you, Maui."

Maui smiled at her, then lifted a hand to caress her cheek and Moana caught her breath.

"You have soot on your cheek," he murmured. Moana cursed inside and swallowed, shaking her head.

"Okay... I thought, you know. I'm sorry, I'm stupid." She stopped talking as the huge hand returned to her face and caressed her lower lip.

"I didn’t know if I had permission."

She blushed.

"You don’t need permission for that."

"For what?" she blushed even more.

"You know what!"

"I will not do it until you say it."

"Kissing me, Maui, you don’t need permission to kiss-" Maui leaned slightly and laid his lips against hers. Moana breathed out through her nose, moaning softly clutching at his collar of fangs. After a few minutes of contact, Maui stepped back and smirked at her.

"You're an idiot." The grin widened and Moana kissed him again to take it away. When she released him, he rested his forehead against hers and sighed. He really liked those little silent kisses. He stroked her face with his thumbs, sharing their breath as they caught their breath.

"I like this."

"Normal, I'm Maui" the quiet silence they shared broke with his bravado. Moana rolled her eyes and turned with an exasperated sigh.

"You always have to break the moment," she began to pick up the maps. Maui twisted behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, leaving her between his open legs. In a rather awkward movement he leaned down and kissed her nape, uncovered by the bun. It was just a caress but it made her laugh with a shudder.

 

* * *

 

Moana was on the mountain setting the bonfire again, they had decided to set sail on their commercial route in two days and it was time to call Maui again to accompany them. The people of Motunui had exploded with worry that the good production and the gifts would disappear the first night that the fire was extinguished when Moana came back after that lost year looking for him, but after the appearance of Maui they maintained the silence and left that the chief of Motunui were the ones who called the demigod. She came down the hill with Pua running after her faithfully and headed for the beach. A couple of hours later she caught a glimpse of the huge bird flying towards them. She smiled at him from a distance and ran to the clearing where they had begun to meet in secret to share small moments alone. Pua stayed behind, from the first time they had met there he had stopped following her, embarrassed by what was happening and accepting the fact that sometimes she wanted to be " _alone_." It had been two months since Maui and she had started this new little relationship and since then she had done everything she could to have one day a week off to call the demigod and spend the day off between kisses, hugs and whispers, until the night would come and he would leave again until the following week.

She covered her face to avoid the dust that fluttered from the movement of his wings as they beat and smiled at the sight of the demigod. He carried a full basket that looked quite heavy. With a shout and a somersault he threw the basket up and transformed into a human, falling to the ground with a loud crack. He raised a hand and the basket fell into it with precision but then he looked up and grimaced hurriedly and rolled on the floor to pick up a couple of remaining objects in mid-flight and finished right in front of Moana with an accomplished smile and a small kiss on the corner of her lips.

"Did you miss me?" At that moment a piece of fruit fell on his head, making him growl in pain. He grimaced when Moana laughed and bent down to pick it up.

"What did you bring?" she asked, scanning the fuzzy, rough surface.

"A present." He made a gesture with his head pointing to the basket.

"Do we eat this?" she grimaced, rubbing it with her thumb. Maui laughed and set the basket down.

"Yeah, look." He grabbed the fruit and gave it a light bite to the skin, then spat it to the side. Beneath it was a greenish flesh with a sweet smell. "Take it."

Moana didn’t think twice and bit the gap left by him, grabbing his wrist to get a better angle. Her eyes widened with surprise at the acid-sweet taste and she let out a moan of pleasure without being able to avoid it.

"Great, huh?" Maui smiled proudly.

"It's great, what is it?" He shrugged.

"I've found it on one of the islands I've visited. I thought you would like it."

"I love it, do you have any more?" He nodded with a laugh and picked up the basket to show it to her.

"I brought it for the rest of your people. Also for you to plant them, I think it will be easy to make them grow here."

"Dad will love it!" She cried excitedly. Without thinking, she grabbed the heavy basket and turned toward the village. At a few steps she realized her mistake and with a groan removed the heavy object in her arms for better mobility and kept walking. Maui shook his head with a smile and looked at mini Maui who made a gesture of going towards her.

"Ok, at your orders," he ran to her and with an impulse he grabbed her with his free arm, making her sit on his forearm, placing the basket on his head and running toward the village with laughter and shouts.

Hearing the shouting, the tribesmen stood petrified, looking where the noise came from. Several seconds later, Maui jumped out of the thicket with his precious cargo in his arms and skidded across the ground a few yards to finally stop. They both had their breaths agitated by effort and laughter and were covered with mud, leaves and twigs. He gently left her on the ground holding the basket to prevent the extra weight from destabilizing her. Moana turned to them, still a mess, and smiled as she lifted her treasure to show it to them.

"Maui brought new fruit!"  they all remained as petrified, looking at them with surprise. Until her father snorted from the distance and approached them.

"Have you unearthed it or what?" She looked at him confused.

"No, he brought it, why?" Maui laughed behind her and started pulling loose twigs out of her hair, tugging at it. She complained, trying to push him away with her foot, oblivious to her father.

"What are they?" He asked as he took one of the fruits.

"We don’t know, he brought them for us."

"Are they edible?" He asked interestedly.

"They have to be peeled, they're like little green coconuts," she said excitedly. The rest of the tribe approached to catch one. "Don’t finish them, we must plant a few for the next crop. "He looked around. There, I think that there next to the palm trees will be good, there is enough sun and the earth is fertile. I don’t think it's going to be difficult for them to germinate here. They are tasty, aren’t they?" she held out one half to a boy who had approached her to look, even Pua was leaning on her leg to get on two legs and sniff the food.

Tui looked at Maui who was gazing at her with a silly smile and his gaze lost on her as she spoke to the rest of the tribe. Shaking his head, he approached him and patted his back to get him out of his reverie.

"I suppose we have to talk." Maui looked at him for a few moments as if he had robbed Te Fiti again and had to explain before he sighed and nodded. "Moana, leave the fruit and go to the river, your hair is full of leaves."

"Huh?" Moana looked up, catching one of them falling on her forehead. She jerked it away and threw it to the floor with a nervous laugh. "Okay, yeah, I think I should humm yeah... uh... Maui?"

"He and I will wait for you at home," he said before Maui could reply. "Your mother and I are very anxious to know what action are going to take for the passage of the Kakamora on your next trip. Take your time."

Moana watched them leave with a look of terror on poor Maui's face.

 

"What did my father tell you?" Moana whispered once they were alone in her room at night. Maui, at her side, stirred in the mess of blankets to face her.

"Nothing important, just to avoid shark territory." Moana rolled her eyes.

"That was only once and you got us out of that."

"He worries, that's all."

Moana moved closer to him to rest her head on his biceps and a hand on his chest.

"You talked... you know.... about us?" Maui placed a hand over hers and caressed it with his thumb.

"Just a bit. They are worried that I will take their beautiful girl away from the island."

"Did they really say that?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I might have added the _beautiful_." Moana smacked him with her free hand as he laughed at his own joke.

"I mean it, did they tell you something?" she whispered louder, somewhat nervous as to whether her family had made things worse for them. Maui looked the same as always but she knew he was unsure of all this.

"Nah, don’t worry." He stroked her hair affectionately. "They haven’t told me anything that we haven’t already taken into account."

"Like what?" He shrugged again.

"Stop thinking about it, it was nothing important and we should rest. Tomorrow we have to leave at dawn if we want to set a good pace." Moana went to complain, but her mouth opened with a loud yawn.

"This doesn’t end like this, you have to tell me what they told you." She shrank closer to him, trying to attract all his warmth.

Maui wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her toward him so she could settle in and get a good sleeping posture.

"Maui."

"Hmm?" He murmured in his sleep.

"I'm glad you're here." He leaned over and kissed her nose playfully. Moana wrinkled it, and with a swift nod of her tongue, she licked his. Maui made an annoying gesture at the sudden dampness and turned away looking with reproach as she laughed at her own joke. Maui raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah?" before Moana could react he had given a strong lick to the side of her face.

"Eugh! That's gross!" she shrieked.

"You started it!" She put two fingers in her mouth and brought them to his face. Maui grabbed her wrist and pulled her away, but suddenly he thought better of it and pulled his tongue out to lick her palm.

"Maui!" She laughed and threw herself at him licking from his chin to his nose..

"Damn!" he said with a false grunt. Moana, who had lifted her hand from his claws, smirked at him.

"And what are you going to do, oh mighty Maui?" She smiled at him and descended to give him a soft kiss on the lips. Moana stiffened suddenly in anticipation of a surprise attack that never came. The touch of their mouths together made him let out a sigh. It didn’t matter how many times they had kissed or for how long; she knew she would never tire of it.

He grasped her face with one hand, pulling her closer to him and moaning as the kiss intensified. Her hips rocked unconsciously against him and Maui tried to hide a hungry grunt. Moana ran her hands down his neck, caressing his collar of fangs and down his chest. Upon reaching a certain skirt of leaves, Maui turned away.

"Enough for tonight."

"Maui," she pleaded in a soft voice.

"No," he repeated in a tone that allowed no reproach to turn over on the bed with one arm behind his head and the other still stretched under her. They had been months in that limbo of relationship/friendship without sharing anything but kisses and the warmth of their bodies. No matter how many times she asked for more; He never gave in. She understood his motives but wished he would give her some more credit. They had more intimacy as friends than now, before they used to bathe naked without any modesty or discomfort but now every time she tried to undo Maui’s skirt, he prevented and retired. She clenched her teeth and made a decision.

She sat up on her knees and swiftly flipped a leg over his stomach as she sat on it before his stunned gaze.

"What...?" Before he could finish the question, she grabbed the strap that held the top of her clothes and tossed it away. Maui uttered a complaint trying to sit up but she crushed his face to the floor with her foot.

"Don’t even try to move," Maui was utterly inert unable to vocalize. He was almost ashamed to admit that he really did love this Moana that sometimes came up: controlling, impulsive, cunning, and domineering. She knew exactly which buttons to touch to have him eating out of her palm. In some ways it was terrifying how a young mortal had so much power over him, but in such situations? He didn’t have a complaint.

Seeing that he was going to be obedient -for the moment- she continued to undo her skirt and tossed it aside with the rest of her clothes. Maui gaped at her, swallowing hard. One thing was to be without clothes with a friend on a quiet afternoon in the river and another is to be in front of this dominant wild animal. The brown eyes almost looked red from the fire in them, her brow furrowed in determination, her hair falling down over her shoulders in a black cascade like the darkest of nights, her breasts were round and perfect, her hips wide and curvy , Those legs that seemed to have no end and that surrounded his waist covered with tattoos of travel and legends... He really should start thinking about something else, anything. He Swallowed. And fast.

Moana leaned over and kissed his lips. The pressure of her bare breasts against his made him inhale hard. She opened her mouth and let her tongue brush against his lower lip.

She had seen some couples do that by the river. Her parents, neighbors and friends shared light kisses in a few seconds of intimacy. Either by way of greeting or by a simple impulse at see the loved one. But she had seen more. She had seen those burning kisses full of ecstasy and gasps, tongues, teeth, bites... those aggressive kisses reserved for those moments between lovers. Maui had never given her one of those, he was sweet, tender, sometimes passionate, but had never imposed any more on her. If it was because of lack of interest or respect for her little experience, he hadn’t mentioned it, and she was more than willing to discover it for herself.

Maui grunted at the gesture and responded by introducing his tongue to her mouth. They both gasped when their tongues met and began a battle to conquer the other's mouth. Moana gasped and her hips jerked involuntarily. He almost stifled a whimper as his rising erection was rubbed in such a way. He knew he had to react or he would lose his head. It had been more than a thousand years since he'd shared a bed like this, over a thousand years with nothing more than himself and his imagination, and now he had a beautiful young woman ready for something she didn’t understand. He couldn’t take advantage of it as much as his body demanded it, she was special, she was Moana.

He pushed himself up and before she could react he flipped her under his body with a more demanding and needy kiss. Moana moaned as the positions were reversed and Maui stood over her in the valley of her legs. They had never been in this position before, one in which Maui was on top of her, covering her with his body. The fire in her stomach lit up like a volcano causing her back to arch so that her bare skin banged against his.

They broke the kiss to catch their breath with the choked breathing of effort and excitement.

"Maui..." She gasped with a trembling voice. Her legs were shaking on either side of the demigod's hips with uncontrolled spasms every few seconds. Her breathing was chaotic and her heart was beating furiously in her ears. She didn’t know what was happening to her, it was a delicious fever that reddened and made every pore of her skin in contact with her lover burn. Whatever was happening, or was about to happen, she was desperate for it to happen soon or she didn’t think she would survive another second with this fire inside her.

Maui reacted by biting her neck with passion, letting her moans guide his movements. He kissed, bit and licked the hollow between her shoulder and neck, causing her to twist under his body. She was so sensitive, so open to his touch and the sensations he could give to her body.

He lowered a hand caressing her side, entertaining himself momentarily with one of her small nipples, which pinched and stroked more abruptly than necessary. Moana moaned in delight at the little rough touch. His hungry mouth left her neck to join his fingers in her perfect mounds. He pulled out his tongue, replacing his digits, to surround the nipple with a tortuous slowness.

He looked up to see her reaction and met her dark eyes and hungry for desire. With a half smile he descended on her chest and bit it fiercely, sucking her nipple in need while pinching the other. The meows and moans of pleasure didn’t wait, pure music to his ears as he continued to enjoy the skin between his teeth. He left her left breast with one last suction before focusing his attention on the other with an almost animal grunt. He dug his teeth into soft skin and played with his tongue circling the circumference that hardened under his attention. He pinched and played with the other nipple as he devoured it mercilessly, letting it twist and groan uncontrollably under his touch. With one last lick on the swollen protuberance of her breast, Moana gave a jolt and gasped for breath with the sudden orgasm that shook her from the head to the tips of her feet.

Maui smiled to himself, this young mortal had just begun to realize what his demigod mouth could do to her, for her. He couldn’t wait for how much more he could take before she fainted between his fingers.

He descended, brushing one of her swollen nipples with his nose and gave a sharp bite to her flat stomach, drawing another roar of exhausted pleasure. He played with her navel with his tongue, which began as a fit of laughter increased until he left her on the verge of tears with pleasure. He kissed gluttonously at her navel, brushed very close to her dark curls, licked her tattoos following the intricate motifs until he reached the tip of one of her feet and kissed her toes one by one, giving them all the attention they deserved before performing the same path ascending her long leg, ending in a last wet kiss on her inner thigh. Moana was barely able to gesticulate, and she was just a panting, trembling pile on the bed. He looked up from his position between her legs; She was disheveled and red from the heat with her hands clinging tightly to the blanket like a lifesaver, her hard, swollen nipples a mess of saliva and bite marks. They had never been as beautiful as now; Full of marks of his teeth. Maui smiled, he could smell her excitement from there making his mouth salivate. He kissed her inner thigh again and rubbed two fingers between her folds, opening them for a good look. Moana was so wet, so needy, and even if he hadn’t even touched her core, he hadn’t even begun. He traced the digits on her clit, giving her a little pinch that was rewarded with a whimper up to her entrance He had to hold his breath as he watched as that small, narrow passage tremble at his touch, as if it were pleading to be filled by him.

He swallowed hard to contain his animal instincts. It would be so easy, he knew she wouldn’t even resist, that she wanted him too... so easy to pull off his skirt and make her his own in that instant, to hear her groan and squirm under his body as he possessed her over and over again.

He closed his eyes tightly and tried to calm the beast inside. No, that would not end well, he had to control himself, he couldn’t do that, not to her. He bent gently and ran his nose up and down her lips in her valley of curls with his gaze fixed on the dark eyes, which watched him with a mixture of need, pleasure and stupefaction. Moana tried to close her legs in a futile attempt to stop him but he held her thighs open with his hands.

"Maui s-stop-" He smiled even more motivated by the gasp of disbelief in her voice. So innocent. With a last smile he pulled out his tongue and, under her stunned look, he gave a long, slow lick from her entrance to her clit.

 

 

With the second contact of his wet tongue against the sensitive skin, Moana's hands clung to his curls with uncontrollable force and her legs were wrapped around his neck. He let out a groan of pain as she had his silky, well-cared-for hair treated that way but instead of saying any word of complaint increased the movement of his mouth over her skin.

He played with the folds, encircling her clit with his tongue before applying a gentle suction that made her moan without meaning to. Her whole body was tense as the ropes on the canoe, and she could barely stifle the sighs and gasps of pleasure out of her mouth.

Maui felt the growing orgasm from the pressure of her legs around his neck and how her knees shook uncontrollably and her body began to tremble. The scream, half moan of pain half moan of pleasure, was a gift to his ears but he knew he couldn’t stop there. Moana would fall asleep for a few seconds but then she would try again, and he mustn’t allow it; She must have been totally ecstatic.

Moana squirmed as her orgasm passed and Maui’s tongue  was still raging in her body, how could she have been without such a delicious experience for so many years? The pleasure of her climax passed leaving an almost painful sensation behind. She complained with all her body contracting by the painful pleasure of her overexcited vulva. She moaned and shouted his name, ordered him to stop, begged and begged with screams, groans and gasps but he was unstoppable and purposeful in mind. Her head felt like it was going to explode and was unable to pick up any rational thinking. She knew there was a word of assurance for everything to stop, but her mind was totally useless right now to compose words. She didn’t know what her mouth was expressing, she couldn’t recognize her own words. When the third orgasm reached her back, she arched in such a way that she believed she would break in half. Her throat ached with screaming and her whole body shook in uncontrollable tremors with maddening pleasure. She fell like a dead weight on the bed, her breathing agitated with the last bits of incomprehensible groaning. Maui sat up with a smirk licking his lips and wiping his face with the back of the hand. He said something, or at least he moved his mouth with strange sounds but she was unable to figure out what he was saying. With narrowed eyes, she saw him grab a coconut, fill his mouth with water and approach her. She gratefully accepted the water from his lips without giving importance to the salty taste of their act and drank with need. She listened again to bottled voices and saw his red face in the gloom. She didn’t know what he was saying, she only listened to the sounds until they became so opaque that they went out and her eyes clouded over and everything went black.

Maui realized she had lost consciousness. He had tried to ask how she was and if she was thirsty but he hadn’t gotten a coherent answer. He had relied on assumptions from previous experiences to discover her needs and had given her water to relieve her possible sore throat. As he had supposed, she, as a virgin with little experience, hadn’t endured three orgasms in a row. Her body was young and still had much to learn. At least he had managed to keep his own needs at bay in order to satisfy hers, and thus have been able to avoid a possible catastrophe such as it might have been that she had the reins of what would have happened tonight. Now she was satisfied and asleep; She had known firsthand the pleasures that Maui could give her only with his mouth and would be pleased with them until her body became accustomed enough to go to a second level. Maui knew he had to prepare for that possible event and seek a future escape.

He took the top of the sheets and wiped his sweaty face away from the wet locks on his forehead. She didn’t even flinch at the contact. Carefully he lay down beside her and pulled her to him so he could return to sleep. He closed the eyes and let himself go.

 

* * *

 

Moana gasped, writhing in his lap, went to break the kiss but Maui held it with one hand on the back of her neck and the other around her waist. She let her forehead drop against his, breathing hard.

"I couldn't breathe." She caressed his chest softly, noticing the excited pulsations in his heart.

"It does happen," he tried to sound mocking but failed in a rush. He licked his lower lip to enjoy the last bits of the kiss.

"Idiot," she laughed, bringing her hands up to his collarbone and caressing the tattoos that framed his neck. He shuddered. She leaned forward and brushed her tongue against his. Maui gasped as if in agony and kissed her again with hunger. Moana gripped his shoulders tightly, clawing them in need as she opened her mouth wider to let her partner's tongue in. She whined loudly and moved her hips in need against him. Maui froze and grabbed her waist with excessive force, breaking the kiss.

"Maui?" He cleared his throat and stepped back to stand awkwardly and turn around to face the sea and turn his back to her.

"Follow the course, I'll follow you."

"Where are you going?" He shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot.

"I need a bath." Moana stood up and came over to touch his arm.

"Are you ok?" He smiled sheepishly.

"Yes, but I really need that bath. I'll be close." He leaned over to give her a soft kiss and he shifted into a shark in the middle of the leap and fell into the ocean with a loud splash. Moana shook her head. She got up and left their hiding place where Maui and she used to spend their free time alone sharing intimate moments. The sun was at its peak and the weather was perfect for sailing. Pua appeared at her feet with Hei Hei behind him. The chicken had managed, without anyone knowing how, to get on the boat. He had been found wrapped in the roll of spare ropes, and the attendant had effusively denied that he had gotten him there. Moana had shaken her head with a half smile, already knew Hei Hei, but they had already set sail and it was too late to turn around.

They would reach their first destination within a few days. She just hoped that Maui would endure another night in which it was his hell for a thousand years. Surely the engravings on the rock would draw much attention to the small team of three people who had signed up to accompany them. They would be the ones who would be in charge of sailing to other islands for trade so it was essential that they see the trip from the first day and that they were recognized by the heads of those places with which they would go to trade.

 

* * *

 

Maui had returned from another bath after an intense kissing session an hour later, shifting in full leap and landing on the canoe. He had kissed her softly, smiling, and had advanced to the front to sit quietly for the rest of the trip. As they approached the island his mood grew worse until he looked toward the horizon with a frown and a sour grin. When the island appeared in the distance he got up and began to walk from side to side like a trapped animal.

"You can take the map and wait for me on the next island.

"Nah, I just never thought I'd be back here. It puts me in a bad mood."

"We can go out at dusk and spend the night at sea. We are only stopping so that they know it and to see if it could be used as a point of commerce or place to sleep for sailors."

"It's best to be able to spend the night on the ground to get something to eat and a good rest."

"I thought there was no food on the island."

"There are crabs and shrimp among the rocks, apart from fish." He looked over his shoulder. "I locked you in that cave, I wasn’t going to let you starve. However cruel I was."

"Were you really going to leave me there?" Pua gave him a hard look. Hei Hei turned his head and clucked.

"Only until I got my bait, then I was coming back... I guess."

"You guess?"

Maui ignored her. Half an hour later the canoe was beached on the sand and Maui jumped, hooking his hook to the hull and pulling it until it was halfway up the beach. The three men were still in the canoe and staggered in surprise at the sudden movement.

"The tide will rise during the night, I don’t want to be stranded here again."

Moana gave them an apologetic look. Maui was really tense and had a sharp attitude. The small crew decided to go and research and set up a small camp on the beach for the night. Maui and Moana left the beach behind and were on their way to the cave. Moana was enjoying what was around her, remembering the last time she was and analyzing again the reliefs and the count of all the years that Maui was here. She wondered if the marks were days, months or years. So distracted was she that she couldn’t help but bump into him when he stopped short.

"Maui?" she looked past his arm and saw that they had already reached the engraving on the rock that covered the mouth of the cave. A deformed mini Moana on a ramshackled boat greeted them from the stone.. Maui looked at it shaking with surprise.

He lifted a hand and brushed the detail with remarkable reverence.

"It's not my best work..."

"It is perfect."

She flushed, embarrassed. He put an arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple, grateful. Carefully, to not to break the stone, he lifted it and set it aside to open the cave. The smell was bitter and stale from moisture and lack of ventilation. Maui was the first to enter looking around, Moana followed. She jumped alertly as he let out an exaggerated gasp.

"What is it?" she peered out to find what had frightened him that way, but the cave was completely empty except for the pile of gravel on the floor. "Maui?"

"It took me sixty years to do it!" He pointed at the shattered sculpture on the floor in exasperation. "Sixty years! You were the size of a chicken, how could you destroy it like that?"

"I had to use it to get up there." She pointed to the hole in the ceiling. Maui opened his mouth in surprise and pissed.

"And you had to use my statue?"

"How did you expect me to get out? Besides, sixty years? You were here for a thousand years."

He indicated with his thumb to the dark part of the cave where several deformed figures appeared in the gloom.

"First I had to learn how to sculpt."

She jabbed his chest and jumped ahead of him to take advantage of the moment to see Maui’s prison for the last thousand years.

"Where did you sleep?"

"There's a bunch of galleries behind the statues. I was left without much space inside" he knelt to pick up the rocks that had formed the shattered statue. Moana scanned the sculptures until she found the hollow that was sinking inward. With her hands touching the stone to move in the darkness, she walked slowly down the narrow path. Her hand slid as she reached a wide hole in the gallery. She felt the fabric surface as she discovered the nest where he had spent the nights. The smell was the first thing that caught her attention. Despite the humidity and the passage of time without ventilation, she could still appreciate the salty and musky smell of Maui in the environment. She climbed into bed and bent to bury her head in the fabrics. Going back to the sea had exhausted her and now this stillness and warmth led her to a sweet sleepiness. She heard a loud sound of rocks being dragged and light entered through the roof of the cave. Moana's eyes widened in annoyance at the sudden brightness and she saw an entertained Maui in the mouth of the opening looking at her with slyness.

"As soon as I'm distracted, a pretty girl appears on my bed. Having fun, princess?"

"Shut up," she complained, red from the embarrassment of being discovered.

"Make me." He strode over to her, presumably extending his shoulders. Moana rolled onto her back on the bed and he leaned over her, covering her, and holding onto her forearms so as not to crush her under his weight. She blushed even more and hugged him by the neck caressing his curly mane with one hand. She still remembered with embarrassed satisfaction how the first and last time he had been in that position above her had ended. The kiss was welcomed and greeted with a little gasp of pleasure. Soon the friction began to become more and more aggressive. They bit each other’s lips, playing with their tongues and tugging their hair for better grip and depth. Maui broke the kiss and chewed gingerly on her neck, leaving a slight red mark on every surface he touched. Moana groaned sonically beneath him, arching her back and gripping his hair tightly.

She moaned his name by grabbing his head to melt into another passionate kiss. After a few minutes together Moana pulled away and looked at him, her eyes bright.

"Please," she whispered, caressing his face.

"Please what?" his voice was hoarse, needy.

"Do it with me," she pleaded, squirming under him in need.

Maui pulled away as if she burned.

"No, I can’t."

Moana sat up on her elbows.

"Yes, you can, you're the only one who can."

"No, not this."

"But-"

"No, Moana. You will when you have to do it and with whom you must do it. You can’t ask me for more," he interrupted abruptly. He turned to leave with a determined step and left the cave without looking back.

When he returned, hours later, he did so with the rest of the crew and arms full of crabs. Moana had set up a small bonfire inside, worrying that the smoke would come out through the opening of the roof. She greeted him sternly and he responded in the same way. They cooked and ate in silence. Moana waited impatiently at bedtime, but when she was alone in the bed she realized that it was going to be a cold night despite the warmth of the fire. She didn’t even know or knew if Maui took the side next to her during her dreams.

 

* * *

 

Moana turned the rudder staring at the stars. They had left the Maui’s island two days ago and were well on their way to their next destination. It had to be said that the attitude between both hadn’t been the best and that is something that her heart resented with each beat. Maui had been quite distant lately, and their secret kisses had become a happy memory submerged in a labyrinth of corners with empty, uncomfortable moments. Either because they hardly had time alone or because their situation was already precarious, but since that afternoon on the island they hadn’t even shared a smile. She was certain of her feelings for Maui but not his for her. Every time she tried to take a step forward in their relationship he cut her off quickly with stories about experiences and people she never knew. Maui had been in bad relationships with mortals before, she knew, she understood his fear and his pain but she was nothing like those women without names. She didn’t love him for the prestige of his title or his greatness, she didn’t want children, no promises, no dreams, no future, she wanted to live _now_ with him. The future was uncertain. Maui was firm in his idea that she would end up repenting and turning her wrath on him for being who, according to his words, _abused her in her youth and ignorance_. But he was wrong. Moana was young, but she was neither naive nor ignorant. She knew what kind of relationship she wanted and what a prospective couple would expect from it. She didn’t want the promises of eternal love because she knew that the eternal love for a demigod on the part of a mortal was as small as a drop of water in the ocean. But the ocean itself was made up of thousands of billions of drops of water. Love, in large amounts, was an important difference.

How to make Maui understand that her love for him was real? How to make her heart stop bleeding like this? Whom to ask for advice? Something grazed her submerged foot and she opened the eyes, jerking it away for fear of a possible attack. A bright electric blue stingray passed beneath the boat. Moana exclaimed and tied off the rudder to run toward the front of the canoe. When she arrived she came across a brilliant figure she would recognize anywhere.

"Grandma!" She cried with tears in her eyes, running to give her a big hug.

"Moana," she whispered in her ear. "I'm so glad to see you."

There was a dull sound behind them, and Moana turned to see that Maui had fallen from the top of the mast, where he had spent most of the trip, and looked at them with a frown and a serious grin.

"You!" He said as he saw the old spiritual woman.

"Hello to you too, Maui."

"Do you... know each other?" Moana looked from one to the other with her mouth open.

"This was the spirit that grabbed my ear and made me go get you to fight Te Kā," Maui explained with a bitter grin.

"Did you do that, grandma?"

The old woman shrugged.

"He needed a well-deserved push."

"Is this your grandmother?" He asked with a grunt. "I know where you got the habit of going for people's ear, princess."

"A little respect if you don’t want me to do it again," threatened, the old woman raising her fist. Maui stepped back and walked away muttering under his breath. He sat down beside the mast without taking his eyes off them. Just in case.

Grandmother and granddaughter spoke long and hard. Moana's attitude was sad and gloomy with her shoulders sunken and she repeatedly shook her head. The old woman made some bitter grimace and moved her hands expressively with gestures that detracted from any problem the young woman was having. Maui was no fool, he knew that his attitude during these days hadn’t been the best given how intimate their relationship had become between them over the past few months. So much so that he had to cut it off before there were wounded, or more than they were going to be if he had advanced further.

Moana had already told him about her grandmother, but the first time he saw her he didn’t recognize the young woman in her. Now that they were facing each other, their kinship was obvious. Maui had flown away that night after his defeat with the lava demon. He had ended up on an almost submerged island, pacing back and forth in anger at his cowardice, his fear, his hook, and her. She was young and reckless and he had to pay the consequences. He could have left her there when he saw the attack coming, could have turned and flown away leaving her to die. But he couldn’t. She was his friend, and that had taken its toll.

That was when the enormous stingray appeared. At first he thought she was a spirit of the sea, one of many. Then she had taken human form and talked about courage to him, to Maui. She had taken him by the ear and told him about the young woman he had left behind and how she was going to go alone, facing her fears, to certain death. And all because he didn’t believe in himself. He was going to let the only person who believed in him in a world that had forgotten him or took him for the destroyer of humanity die. He had discovered what he had to do: he had to go back and make sure Moana fulfilled her destiny even if it cost his own life. Because that's why the gods had chosen him.

That day his whole life changed. A change that until today, at that very moment, hadn’t been able to repent yet. He had a new purpose, a new destiny and a new life: he had to be with her. He had to make her and her people happy. He would pull down the stars if she asked him, bring her the moon and lift a whole damn continent from the sea and leave it at her feet. But one day that wouldn’t be enough, it never was. One day she would want something he couldn’t give her and that would be the end for _them_. Humans always forgot what he had given them and asked for more of what he could offer and when he couldn’t do it he was renegade and rejected. That's what would happen at the end: Moana would ask something that his magic couldn’t give her, that Maui couldn’t give her,and he would lose her to someone who could offer it to her.

He would be relegated to a secondary position that would end in oblivion. One day, that flame on top of Motunui would be nothing more than a memory from a time when a demigod posed as a friend of mortals. She would have the life she deserves with someone she had chosen, not forced to marry, and with whom she could have the future and the family she wanted. That is something he had to live with from the first moment and it was something that he had to learn in the worst way.

He would be there until she stopped calling him and one day she would return to earth and her spirit to the sea and then she would only remain in his memories and in his heart.

He looked at them again. Moana was young, she still had many years to go but she was still mortal. He had to be aware that one morning he would wake up and her life would be extinct, then he would either go to Lalotai or chase her across the sea if she reincarnated as an ocean spirit. That if she would want to see him again or even remember him.

"Maui?" He blinked a couple of times and looked up at Moana, the beautiful young Moana. Apparently she had said goodbye to the old woman while he was with his mind elsewhere.

"I was distracted, what did you say?" She sat down beside him and he tried not to stiffen from the sudden heat of his skin in contact with hers.

"I didn’t know you knew my grandmother."

"I didn’t know she was your grandmother at the time." She nodded and they fell into a sudden awkward silence.

Maui took the opportunity to observe her. It wasn’t that his memory traits were no longer known, but he had found himself more than once aware of the fleeting presence at his side, and took advantage of every second so that his mind memorized every freckle and pore of her skin.

"Have you ever thought of immortality?" he found himself saying.

"No, we humans aren’t immortal and it's not something we can change." She shrugged. "Why go around something beyond our control?"

"There is a goddess called Te-Pō. She has the power of immortality." He turned to her, looking impassive." We can steal it from her, make you all immortal, you and all humanity-"

"Maui," she interrupted, "you know that can’t end well. One thing is to help us to live better and another is to try to change something in our own nature" she grabbed her pendant firmly. "I would like to be with my parents forever, I would like my grandmother to continue with me and yes, surely I would love to live forever and go with you on adventures... But we must die to be able to see those who are no longer with us and to make way for those who have to come. You have already done everything you could for us, we are already happy. It's enough."

He held back a scathing reply. This was one of the reasons why a relationship between them couldn’t go well. Moana was mortal, had a family, a village that needed her. She would die one day, it wasn’t something he could avoid or she would want to remedy.

His heart gave a twist to the idea of that morning where he would wake up in a world without Moana and told himself that he was making the best decision.

 

* * *

 

Their next destination emerged from the waters as they approached. It had been a hard month for them. Moana looked up at the top of the mast where Maui hung, looking toward the horizon. Since that incident on the island their relationship had cooled remarkably. He had stopped kissing her since that very day and she was too afraid to try to talk with him because of a possible rejection. He had abandoned the canoe for most of the trip, preferring to fly around or dive underwater to follow them in solitude. Moana suffered from the situation but Maui had fled every time she tried to get to that subject or changed the conversation to disappear in a blue flash. She sighed heavily. Maui jumped from the sail to the beach and grabbed the bottom of the canoe to drag it toward the high-water mark. Moana came down and Maui held out his hand to help her, she smiled kindly and he answered with a half smile.

The islanders rushed to look at them with joy when they recognized who she was. The children screamed and a couple of the little ones jumped into her arms. Moana took one of them and walked back to the village with her small group behind her, walking awkwardly because the children hugged and played with their legs. Kea met them in front of the chief’s tent next to Marama, both of them looking tired but happy to see them. They greeted each other like old friends, asking about their home and island. Then Kea glanced over her shoulder and saw Maui, who was still playing with the children, ignoring the whispering and constant glances of those gathered around him, pointing at him.

Maui frowned at the sight of Moana and the chiefs talking softly. Then the three of them approached and she rested her hand on his arm to draw him toward them.

"Chief Kea, chief Marama, this is Maui." The demigod widened his chest and raised his head with a bright smile.

"You found him!" Cried Marama with emotion. Maui deflated remarkably, expecting another reaction from a pair of mortals in front of him, a demigod. "Oh, Moana, we were so worried. We are so happy for you."

Moana smiled shyly, looking down at her hands.

"It was a long trip, but it was worth it." Then she remembered something, looking at Kea suddenly. "Where's the old lady? I want to thank him for what she did for me."

The couple shrank back, sharing a sad look. Moana's heart sank.

"Is she...?"

"She's still with us, much older, but she'll want to know about you." Marama took a step forward and took her hands, giving them a sincere squeeze. "But first I will take you to where you can rest and regain strength. I see you came this time with a group of friends."

"Yes, I forgot. We are expanding our island trade for as many places as we can and wanted to discuss a possible trade agreement." Marama looked at Kea for a moment and he nodded with a smile.

"That's something we can discuss about at the dinner tonight. Rest and take your time in our home, my people will offer you all the food and tools you need. Let's leave the business for later."

She smiled gratefully.

"We'll go to the old cabin that you made me if it's still available."

"Yes, it is, but isn’t it too small for all of you? And more with..." Marama looked sideways at Maui. Moana shrugged nonchalantly.

"It's big enough, it will only be for a couple of nights and he has several magic tricks to make his stay more comfortable."

"If so, I'll go with you," Kea said. After sharing a final grasp of hands with his wife, he walked with them towards the aforementioned cabin. Marama had to call the children to stop persecuting their new visitors with curiosity.

The cabin was just as she remembered it: it was small but well kept and surprisingly clean. The men who came with her gave a happy sigh to see that they could sleep on land for a couple of nights. Maui, on the other hand, was still moody and paid no attention to it before turning into an iguana and crouching in a corner with his back to them all. Kea gave Moana a quick glance but she pretended not to notice it. She really didn’t feel like a new discussion and less, one about Maui.

"Tonight we will give a welcome ceremony, and tomorrow we can discuss the details of the trade route." Moana leaned toward him as a gesture of gratitude. "I'm going to ask a couple of people to bring you something to eat, you can travel the island at your whim. Make yourself at home."

"Thank you very much, chief Kea," they gathered their foreheads together in a small friendly farewell and he left them alone.

"Did he say anything about food?" Said one of the young men who had already gathered on the floor of the hut on the other side of the demigod. She nodded.

"Now they will bring something, tonight there will be a party for our arrival and tomorrow we will be able to detail the terms to see if they are interested in our offer."

"When will we leave?" Another asked, his hair curly and short.

"In two days. The chiefs" she gestured toward the couple they had met "are friends I met on one of my trips, are kind and have a rich land but I don’t want to abuse their kindness."

"Aren’t they navigators?" She shook her head.

"Few are. Te Kā had made the sea difficult and dangerous to sail, many forgot their navigator past."

"So it's true?" Came the whisper of a third member, the youngest of them all. He was medium in height but his face still had that childish appearance that hadn’t yet changed in maturity.

"What?"

"That you fought with the lava demon."

Moana had told the story on the island many times, in the same way that her grandmother told the legends. However those stories had come to sound more than a myth than a reality and to have a person who had really been in one of those fantastic situations was something that many were excited about.

"No, that was Maui. I just gave her back her heart."

"It should have hurt her," the older man whispered. "Have your heart ripped out of your body for a thousand years."

"That would make anybody a demon," continued the second. Moana nodded in silence. Te Fiti had been the mother of all creation and it had been one of her own children who had taken her heart from the depths of her chest. She couldn’t even imagine how she felt, that pain not only because her heart was stolen from her body, but also of betrayal. She was grateful that Te Fiti had reemerged from her ashes and hadn’t taken revenge on her destroyer. She had every right to strip Maui of his magic, his hook, his power and even worse. She got up and went to the door.

"Moana? Where are you going? They'll bring the food at any moment," one of the boys asked.

"I'm not hungry, I'll be back in a little while." She couldn’t stay in that tent for another second. Not with the horrible feeling of emptiness in her chest.

The night came sooner than she had imagined and soon found herself surrounded by lights, flowers, music, and a multitude of familiar faces from her last voyage. Kea and Marama sat next to them presiding over the celebration while the three crewmen enjoyed the attentions of a group of young women with flushed cheeks.

"I think someone is having a good time," Marama said mischievously, pointing at them with a gesture.

"And they're not the only ones," Moana replied, glancing at Maui. The demigod had stumbled across a tray of shrimp and was enjoying them by the handful. Moana had lost count of how many dishes he had emptied in the last hour.

"A long time since your visit, how are your people?" Kea asked gently.

"Montunui has prospered more than we could ever have imagined. Since the trade came we have had our hands full of work but it has been very gratifying to see how our society and economy have been growing every day."

"So you're the official head of your village, right?" Kea looked a little stunned this time, and Moana couldn’t help but notice how he took a quick look at one of her Malu-tattooed legs coming out of the hollow of her skirt. She didn’t take it personally, she had already seen that off her island most of the women had a secondary role in leadership.

"Yes, I am."

"And how can you allow yourself to be far from home?"

"We need to expand, it's okay for mariners to come and trade Motunui but we're missing a whole world out there. We thought that it was wise for me to make the first trip on the commercial route we have created to speak in person with the heads of each island. Then there's the kakamora problem, that’s why Maui accompanies us." The demigod lifted his head from the plate at the sound of his name and looked at them with a raised eyebrow and a shrimp poking out of his mouth. The pair of chiefs laughed.

"What are kakamoras?" Kea asked, adding more fish onto his plate.

"They are small wild coconuts, pirates," Maui replied, wiping his mouth with his forearm. "They have come to trade on Motunui but that they are going to let us pass without striking is still to be seen."

"I don’t think a group of small coconuts are rivals for a demigod," Marama said with a smile. Maui puffed out his chest.

"Maybe he forgot to add that _I_ was the one who defeated them on our first raid," Moana said in a roguish tone. Maui deflated and looked at her with a reluctant grimace.

"It was pure luck-"

"Kea?" There was a broken whisper behind them. The four of them turned to see an old woman coming out of the back of the tent with a cane and a young woman behind with sunken shoulders and an apologetic look. Surely she would be in charge of taking care of the woman and she wouldn’t have taken a _no_ for an answer when she wanted to go to the party.

"Mother" Kea got up in a couple of strides until he took her arm. "You should be in bed, you're sick."

"Honi, dear," said Marama, standing on the other side. The old woman ignored them.

"I'm well enough to enjoy a party, who are the newcomers?"

Moana got up and walked over to her. The old woman noticed her presence and raised her free hand to caress her cheek.

"I remember you," she said seconds later with a crooked grin showing a series of old grayish teeth. "I'm happy to _see you_ again."

Moana bent as she pulled her closer and pressed their foreheads together.

"I'm glad to see you, too." They parted with a smile, and then the old woman lifted her head and looked over her shoulder with her crystal blue eyes.

"You found him!" she exclaimed, striking her cane on the ground. "Come here, boy, let me see you."

She took a couple of steps toward Maui with Kea holding her hand to keep her from falling. Maui looked at them in surprise, not knowing what to do. He let the old woman approach and put a hand on his torso.

"A very big boy," she said suddenly. They snorted with laughter, lightening the mood. "Very brave, very older." The laughter returned.

"Mother..." Kea said looking at the demigod with an apology.

"Shut up, your mother is talking. Very handsome boy, a beautiful mane, you take a lot of care of it, don’t you, kid?" She stroked a strand of his hair over his shoulder and went back down to his chest, "and a hea-. Oh! My boy, your heart has been stolen..." Moana gasped looking at him with frightened eyes. Maui remained perplexed for a couple of seconds before snorting, gently patting the antique hand which rested right between the tattoos of Mini Moana and mini Maui.

"No one has stolen the heart of Maui, Honi, he has given it freely."

The clear, empty eyes stared at his with a contemplative look.

"Then why does it hurt so much?"

If there was an answer, Moana didn’t hear it, her heartbeat raging furiously in her ears and before she could realize, her legs were leading her with great speed away from there. She ran and ran until she reached the beach and her feet dipped into the first waves of the shore. Her eyes were blurred with tears and her breathing was agitated with pain and effort. How stupid had she been, so, so, so stupid, is that where he went every time he wasn’t with her? To see that strange woman to whom he had given his love? What was she for him then?

"Moana" sounded that voice that she would recognize anywhere.

"Go away," she growled, clenching her fists on either side of the body.

"No, I have to talk to you." She turned, causing her hair to strike her face.

"But I don’t want to talk to you! You lied to me! You told me there was no one!"

"And there's no one." Maui took a step forward and grabbed her by the shoulders. She writhed furiously.

"Liar! The old lady said it! You have given your heart to someone!"

"Yes, to you!" he exclaimed giving her a strong shake. She stopped and looked at him wide-eyed. "To you... only to you. I am in love with you for more than I am able to admit."

She shook her head slowly and a tear trickled down her cheek.

"If you loved me, you would not have rejected me." She jerked his hands away.

"I couldn’t give you what you were asking for," he defended himself.

"Why? Why if our feelings are the same?" He made a sour grin.

"No, they are not. You're still too young to understand what love is-"

"I know what it's love! It's what I feel for you." She gave him a hard push, making him take a step back. "It’s what you have made me feel."

"It wasn’t my intention. I didn’t pretend that this happened. You had to live your own life and forget me."

"I can’t forget you! I love you, Maui."

"No, you don’t, you are confused with feelings of friendship and gratitude, when you grow up and-"

"Fuck you! Gratitude? Ha! How can I prove it to you? How? I know you don’t trust humans, I know you've had bad experiences in the past but they aren’t me. I am Moana! You know me, you know you can trust me." Maui let out a snort and shook his head. Moana felt her chest twitch in pain.

"It's not a matter of trust, it's a matter of if we had gone too far you would have repented for the rest of your life."

"But it's my decision! I will not regret my own decision."

"You're only a child!" He shouted into her face causing her hair to flutter out of her face. "You can’t even understand!"

"I'm not a child!" She roared. "I'm a woman! How long will I have to wait until you believe me? When will I stop being a child for you? When I can't just stand on my feet or in a thousand or two thousand years? Because I'll be dead by then!"

"That's why I told you about Te-Pō," he grunted. Moana stood petrified with her throat sticking through the pain and the tears without spilling.

"Are you going to make me choose between you and my family? Would you really do this to me?"

"What? No! It's just that you don’t understand that humans and demigods can’t be together!"

Moana gasped and went around him with her head bowed. When she passed by his side, Maui grabbed her arm, but she jerked abruptly.

"Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me again!" she roared, red with fury. "You've made your goddamn decision, I'll leave that to you even though it's more than you give me, but I've had enough. Keep your damn heart and go. I don’t want to see you anymore."

Maui didn’t try to call her name again. He stood there with the waves licking his ankles and the night breeze rocking the hair as he watched the little figure disappear into the jungle on the way to the village. Once he was alone on the beach he turned toward the sea. He ignored the column of water that greeted him from a distance and slowly entered the salt sea. He shapeshifted into a shark and swam off into the deep, he repeated to himself that he had made the best decision and didn’t even consider the pain of his torn chest as he swam to the horizon leaving his heart behind.  
  
  
**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry! :(
> 
> Fanart:
> 
> [“Maui s-stop-”](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/post/163091743496/maui-s-stop-fanart-for-the-fic-fire-and-dust) by [MagicFishHook](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/)


	10. Chapter 10

Maui was right there under the canoe when Moana and her team faced the Kakamora. The three man stared at the sight of how their chief and leader of their people had boarded the ship loaded with pirates and had captured the king of the small coconuts. The terrified pirates had no choice but to accept the commands of the [ i ](http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/intimidating)ntimidating woman and ended up being cooperative. Maui swam slowly away without attracting attention; he always knew that she had never needed him to face her fears.

Fear is what he was living night after night in his terrible nightmares:

The wind fluttered his feathers in flight. The sun was right in front of him in all his glory and the salty smell of the sea led him. He closed his eyes and inhaled sharply, his wings extended so that the breeze held him in the air. Then he heard it: shrieks and whistling from the sea. He looked down and saw the pod of dolphins jumping and playing, breaking the surface of the water with their strong tails. An impulse took him, he knew those dolphins. Before he could realize what he was doing, he was already descending on them, but instead of perching on the hairless surface of the animal's back, he fell helplessly into the water. His feathers were soaked and his wings were rendered unusable by dampness. He couldn’t transform, he couldn’t swim, the water made his wings heavy and difficult to move. He opened his beak to scream but could only swallow water. The animals he had come to find had disappeared, he was only sinking into the sea without anyone being able to hear his cries or feel his terror: he was going to die alone.

He heard a flutter, and strong, stringy claws stuck to the base of his wings. Soon he was lifted up to the sky in a whirlwind of feathers and claws. They rose until he surpassed the clouds around him. The sea was lost beneath the vaporous white mantle of the clouds and he was suddenly loose of its grip. Quickly he moved his wings to stay in flight and turned, still wet and agonizing, toward that creature, his savior. A huge hawk greeted him back, its features were purely animal but its eyes... He opened his mouth in surprise as he recognized those brown eyes that looked at him with a mixture of sympathy and compassion? His heart began to pound. He didn’t want it to look at him like that, who was that creature? What was it? He tried to scream but his throat was starting to feel almost on fire, his chest seemed to explode.

Maui woke up suddenly falling from the bed on all fours. His arms could barely support his body as he choked and wheezed trying to catch his breath. The smell of soot was horrible and nauseating, he felt ash in his mouth and he could barely see through the smoke that surrounded him. He got up and ran as fast as he could. He left the cave stumbling and crashing into everything that got in his way.  
  
  
  
  
  
When he felt the coolness of the water on his feet, he gasped with satisfaction and dropped himself so that the ocean water would extinguish the flames that had formed in his body. The hissing sound of the fire being extinguished enveloped him, covering his own gasps of pain. His fists sank into the damp sand and his shoulders shook with tears.

After months stumbling over the sea looking for a reason to be, he tottered to his island. Surely guided by the help of the ocean itself. He lay back in his old bed with a groan of pain and fought with all his might to sleep. He didn’t want to wake up again, only to fall into a dream that would ease the pain in his chest. And it had to be in that damn place. It was the last place where he taste those forbidden lips and where everything was twisted to breaking. The nightmares soon arrived in his sleep.

Nightmares where he was surrounded by smoke and his hands were pure lava. He woke up every time with nausea and the smell of soot and smoke still in his nostrils. At times he dreamed that he was flying, he looked down and saw a group of dolphins. He tried to get close to them but they avoided him and foolish in his clumsiness, fell to the sea and drowned. He didn’t know why he had stopped using his hook in his night terrors. It rested on the side of the cave where he slept most of the time.

This fear came from other nightmares in which he was on the island without his magic and on the shore of the beach was a small gray-blue dolphin. It was so dazzling that its skin looked chiseled in stone and polished to a gleam. The dolphin was waiting for him at sea, circling over and over again, calling him... but he couldn’t get close, he couldn’t touch _her_.

Other dreams were worse, those where he was in that same cave with her that day, and instead of pulling away and leaving her, he made love to her in all the imaginable ways he had dreamed since he'd known he'd fallen in love with her like a fool. From those dreams he woke with tears in his eyes and the same smell of soot. More than once he had run to the ocean to see his reflection in the sea for fear of finding that his body had turned into lava. His heart was an open wound in his chest and it suppressed drops and drops of blood that ended in the ocean and were lost in the horizon. Mini Maui had been horribly quiet, either because he was licking his own wounds or because he knew that what he needed right now wouldn’t be able to be awarded. How much time would have passed on this island? Months? Years? Decades?

He was terrified of going back to Motunui and finding that he had spent more time than he imagined on his island.

One night he had that dream: he was flying over a desolate, uninhabited island looking for his friends and the bearer of his heart. But they were not to be found, noone. With a cry of horror and pain he flew through the skies, he sought Lalotai, begged for the tides and breezes, but wherever there were no known faces. Only the same blank faces with empty smiles of his tattoos. And she wasn’t there. It seemed that she had only been a product of his imagination, a figure his heart had created to drown the pain. Wherever he went her name was unknown, no one knew about her, or her achievements, or her island... and upon awakening he had to run to grab his hook to make sure that her existence hadn’t been the product of his imagination for having spent so many centuries alone on this island. That their adventure and their little romance had passed, that she had existed beyond in his head.

Other times she had a family. He didn’t know which was worse: to find that she wasn’t there, to violate her memory with a unilateral passion with his embarrassing dreams where he took her and made her his, or her, smiling at a stranger. He didn’t know where this wave of jealousy came from, jealousy he had no right to have because he had condemned himself to a future without her. But there they were. He would kill any mortal, monster, demigod, or god who dared to look into that little mortal presence. There were millions of humans scattered around the world. Couldn’t he have only one for him? Only one who smiled at him? That loved him only and not because he was a demigod, but because he was him? But his mind forced him to let her live her life without him. She would be happy, happier than he could ever make her. That was enough, more than enough.

The mornings he couldn’t remember were merciful but equally painful. He woke up without memories, but his face was soaked with tears, a sharp sting in his chest and a sweet taste in his lips. But there it was again: that burnt smell that had stuck even on the covers of his bed.

Every dawn, every tide, every breeze and every breath of his body, carried him to her. Her name was on his lips all hours of the day and she accompanied him in his dreams and nightmares every night. His vision played tricks on him, and sometimes he would have sworn he saw her silhouette cut out on the shore playing with the waves, but every time he ran towards her he passed through this deadly mirage. Now that his lips had tasted her skin and her kisses, he couldn’t forget her. He ended up roaring at the ocean for a nonexistent cruelty and had thrown the hook more than once into the depths with a howl of helplessness. Opening his eyes, kneeling in the sand with his face buried in his hands, he had seen how his old friend, the ocean, had brought the hook back to the shore. What for? he did not know. It was as if every time the ocean gave him his magic hook it would give him another chance, an opportunity to make amends, an opportunity to return to her. His heart longed to see her, his hands to touch her skin, his mouth to kiss her lips, his nose to breath in her essence of oils, sea and vegetation. Until he woke up on fire.

He knew it was all in his head, that he wasn’t turning into a demon, that his heart was still in his chest. But it was beginning to lose his head and his magic to be out of control, the result would have a destructive power very similar to the one of the lava demon, Te Kā. He couldn’t allow himself to go crazy, not so close to Motunui and with his magic hook in his control.

He had to do something. He had to see her if only one last time.

He closed his eyes tightly and that smile appeared in the darkness. His heart slowly relaxed and he let out a broken sob. He remembered those lips but he couldn’t remember her eyes. Oh yes, he remembered them, but not smiling, not with that touch of warmth she reserved only for him, not with that passionate fire when she was in the middle of an adventure, no, he remembered them tearful, broken and full of pain. He contained a groan, clenching his fists harder in the face of a painful stab in his chest. One last time. See those eyes one last time. Even if those eyes didn’t see him, he would hide, she didn’t have to know he was there. She could go on with her life without being bothered by his presence as she should have done from the beginning. He just had to make sure that her existence was true and that she was happy, that she had moved on without him and then he could go on living. Perhaps seeing her happy would end the pain in his heart.

He felt something hit his hand and opened his eyes to see his hook being pushed and picked up by the waves. He watched for a few seconds in which he was seriously rethinking what he was going to do. He raised a hand and changed into a hawk with a click and a simple touch of his fingers. He opened his wings, looked at the sky, and flew away.

* * *

 

He was feeling it. As he approached the island of Motunui his despair was falling behind. The ash smell was fading and his body felt lighter and more rested. No matter how much he had slept on the small rocky island, he never woke up without feeling completely exhausted. That exhaustion was disappearing with every flap, his wings felt stronger and the wind seemed cleaner. But he noticed it most in his chest: he was going home.

His flight was diminishing as he approached and when he was at a suitable distance he transformed again into a honeycreeper. It wasn’t his favorite bird for its small size and for the slow speed compared to its giant cousin the hawk, but he was going to slip by unnoticed with this appearance. His heart began to pound furiously in his chest, how much time had passed? He han’t counted the days since they had said good-bye, and he didn’t know how long his dreams had taken. He flew over the mountain but there was no sign of any bonfire. It had been enough time for Moana to decide that she no longer needed to call him. It constricted his throat with a tight grip. Instead, on another peak of Motunui, he saw what he recognized as a small lighthouse. He descended to the village and looked around, looking desperately at each face in search of a face known. There were many new faces, probably many pertaining to the number of canoes that rested next to the reef. He gave a heavy sigh as he recognized one of the boys with whom he had discovered the last island of the hot springs. At least he knew that it hadn’t been too long since the boy still looked as young as ever. Maybe with a little more maturity and a growing beard on his chin.

He traveled the island from top to bottom but saw no sign of the young woman, and what if she was on another of her adventures? He perched on one of the palm trees overlooking the busy center. He saw people walking and work, talking loudly with big smiles and kindly embraces. He also noticed something new: two couples walked the place from side to side with what looked like spears. Maui frowned. Surely there would have been some sort of problem with some other visiting navigator so they would have had to put something like that. Motunui was home to a peaceful people who liked tranquility and being friends with everyone. Moana wouldn’t have made such a move without a clear reason.

"... they will be back for lunch, surely." He heard a voice passing beneath the palm tree he had climbed on. "There are loom classes this afternoon so I don’t think they will be long delayed."

"It's a bad thing she took care of the children, she always works so hard..."

"You know how she is. Arona is still recovering and she will not let anyone give up their chores to look after the children."

"It must be hard for her, at her age and childless."

"She has dedicated her life for her people, I don’t think that taking care of children is a punishment for her."

Maui took off, unable to hear one more word. Moana was on the island, it was all he needed to know. He couldn’t deny that what he had just heard surprised him. He was turning what he had heard when he recognized a figure on the beach surrounded by a group of children.

As he approached, he was stunned, he knew that it hadn’t been a long time, but Moana had changed considerably since the last time he saw her: Her arms had tattooed black rings, her hips were steeper and it was obvious that she had grown more than a couple of centimeters in his absence. Her red feathered skirt contrasted beautifully with her cinnamon skin and her short top showed the circular tattoos on her hips. Her long mane was gathered in a bun so she could work well in the sand. Apparently she was collecting mussels with the little ones and they seemed excited about the small mollusks that were found buried in the wet sand.

By the gods, how he had missed her. She looked so happy and lively, so oblivious to anything but her little pupils. He watched as one of the boys called her and she turned around leaning toward him to find out what the problem was. Then Maui gasped. He had noticed the new tattoos in her arms, but when she turned her back, he noticed a huge dark drawing occupied most of it.

It had been her. Her savior in his dream, his only friend in nightmares, the giant hawk that had saved him innumerable nights; it was her. He didn’t know how but he was sure of it. On her back rested the picture of a huge bird in intricate tribal motifs and with a recognizable mini Maui in the center of the bird inspired by his own tattoos.

It wasn’t the first time that a mortal tattooed his figure, he was Maui the demigod of wind and sea, shapeshifters and hero of all. But this was the first time in his entire life that someone had tattooed _him_ . Not Maui, not the demigod, only _him_.

Moana's words echoed in his head:

‘ _Are you going to make me choose between you and my family?’_ She had made her decision in a permanent promise on her own body; She had chosen them both.

He had to talk to her, he had to face his stupidity and even beg her on his knees. He would leave his pride to one side if she just give him another chance to be by her side. She had decided on a lonely life, he could accept it, he just wanted to be in her shadow. If he could only see her once a day for the rest of her life he knew it would have been worth it. He prayed to all the gods that she pitied him enough to allow him to be in her presence after his horrible words. He descended in a dive and once at a decent height, he shapeshifted in the air and fell a few meters away on the shore.

The children shouted when they saw him and ran to hide behind Moana. She had already noticed the sudden presence and had stared at him with a stony, empty face. A little girl tugged at her skirt and she looked down to take her hand to comfort her. Maui didn’t move, attentive to any gesture, order or movement. He felt as if he were cornered on a reef full of sharks, unable to move in fear and caution not to end up being bitten by one of the sea beasts. He heard murmurs in the group and then they all turned and walked to the jungle under the stunned gaze of the demigod. Moana took the hands of a couple of children and whispered to them that they continue to walk even though one or another stopped to look over their shoulder to see the robust newcomer still in the same spot where he had fallen from the sky.

Maui swallowed hard with a fist squeezing his chest. Before moving into the thicket, Moana stopped and glanced over her shoulder. Her gaze was cold and indifferent, and it stuck like a dagger in his gut. Without a single word she disappeared into the jungle.

His shoulders sagged with aplomb and he walked to the sand with his gaze still fixed where Moana had been seconds earlier. He sat down in the sand, his hook by his side, and tried to contain the gnawing pain that pierced his body. He told himself that he deserved it, that it was his fault, that this was the best thing, that the tattoo meant nothing. It could have been both a beginning and an end, a painful detail to close a painful chapter of her life. His dream was just that, a dream, had not been real and had been totally and absolutely one-sided.

Moana hadn’t come to save him, she had moved on.

He clutched his fist to his chest, believing that the sudden pressure had been brought on by mini Maui, but he was looking sadly at him like a parody of himself. He patted his chest where the little tattoo was and let out a groan of pain. In tears he wondered if it was the same thing that Te Fiti had felt when her heart was ripped from her chest a millennium ago. Was it this emptiness that had transformed her into a demon? He had to get out of there, leave it all behind, remake what was left of his shattered world by collecting the broken pieces of his life.

A fire exploded inside him, comforting him from inside to outside like the embrace of a loved one. He gasped at the momentary heat wave and lifted his head toward Motunui’s peak: the fire was lit. He was being called.

He stood up abruptly and picked up his hook, transforming with an electric blast. His wings snapped in the air with force by which he took flight. He didn't remember flying so fast in millennia. It took only a few seconds to reach the top and change back to human skidding on the ground looking around for whoever had called. Moana was by the fire with a torch in her hand. Her mane was loose again with a crown of feathers over her head and a robe of red feathers over her shoulders. In her other hand, rested on the ground, a finely carved oar giving her a dominant and determined attitude.

"M-" He opened his mouth, taking a step toward her. Moana slammed the oar on the ground and interrupted him.

"What are you doing here?" She asked in a hard voice. Maui paused and clenched his jaw.

"I've come to see you." The lies are gone. He felt mini Maui contract into his pectoral when Moana's eyes twinkled in surprise for an uncovered millisecond.

"You've seen me."

_Now go away._

They were unspoken but implicit words. If they hadn’t been spoken they would have been because of lack of necessity or because of their lack of sincerity. Moana was hurt, but she was merciful and kind beneath that armor she had set.

"I have nowhere to go."

_My life outside this island doesn’t deserve to be lived. I don’t want to go. Let me stay by your side. I don’t want to have nightmares again, I don’t want to go back to sleep on an island alone. I don’t want to wake up again in a world without you._

Moana looked at him closely, frowning.

"You've always had a place to go back to. What are you really doing here, Maui?"

"I want to accept your offer."

Moana tensed and narrowed her eyes, he knew what thoughts were going through her head and he wanted to cut them before she got the wrong idea and screamed back. It wasn’t something he could endure at that moment, just seeing her, having her in front of him, made his heart beat again normally and his chest stopped contracting with pain.

"I want to stay in Motunui for a while. Once you said that I would be welcome in your tribe."

"That offer was offered years ago, the situation has changed."

"I'll work to live here," he cut off. "I will be one more member of the village, I will work and live like one of them."

"You've always hated work."

"You haven’t been the only one who has changed."

She clenched her jaw visibly.

"You can stay a month. We will offer you one of our cabins that you will have to take care of. You'll have your own chores if you want to stay," and she lifted her oar, pointing at him menacingly. "I don’t want any of your stupid stunts while you're on my island. At the slightest foolishness you'll be out, understood?"

Relief seized him as if he had just settled under a waterfall. He had been accepted into Motunui, temporarily, but something was something. In a month he would be able to win back the woman's confidence, he was sure. He was Maui.

Moana tossed the torch into the fire and turned.

"Extinguish it and go to the village. My mother will give you a chore." She stopped and looked over her shoulder. "And don’t come back up here, this is the sacred mountain of the chiefs of Motunui. You have no right to be here."

Maui inflated the lungs and blew the flames out easily. He watched her descend a few meters and he shapeshifted into a hawk to fly down to the village. He had to bite his tongue not to ask about the tattoo. Moana was testing him and he was not going to fail this test, would prove that he was worthy to stay in her village and be part of her tribe. Maybe one day that bright smile would return to her lips when their eyes met. For now he would be content to sleep on the same floor as her. He was sure that if some nightmare came he would be rescued by an old friend.

* * *

 

"Mom!" She cried, unable to believe it.

"It was all I could think of, Moana" she apologized. That same afternoon Maui had unexpectedly appeared on the beach. She hadn’t been able to avoid her surprise at the sight of him and the curiosity and desperation to know what the demigod was doing there. However he had learned the lesson in the worst way and knew that she should be careful around him. His request to stay on the island came as an unexpected surprise. One part of her had wanted to refuse, but another accepted without thinking. She had given him a month knowing that it was going to be hard and Maui surely wouldn’t stand the pressure of the island more than that time. She had hoped her mother would take care of giving him an appropriate chore, but she hadn’t expected something like that.

"You can’t ask him to take care of the children."

"You know that Arona is taking some time for the baby," Arona had been the caretaker and teacher of the smallest for several years but just had her first child with her husband Siaki and because of problems in childbirth, she had decided to take time to rest and take care of their baby.

"But I'm covering her position."

"You are the head of the tribe, you are already overworked. You have said that he will only stay for a month, it is enough time for Arona to recover and return to work. You don’t have to try so hard."

"He doesn’t even know our traditions or customs."

"It will be only a month, a month where children will learn things that no one in the village has known before. When Arona returns, she will resume classes. You don’t have to worry."

Moana sighed and gritted her teeth. Her mother was right, of course, she had been more than busy with the latest traders and the latest jobs on the island. Motunui had expanded greatly in the last two years and she had decided to take full control of her tribe as a leader. Her parents had stayed in to the side as members of the council and were tasked with giving the tasks for each member of the village. She would have believed that her mother would give him a job with the fishermen or harvesting the crops, she would never have expected this.

She looked down at her hands clasped in her lap. It was already dark and she was at her parents' house enjoying a quiet dinner, she hadn’t seen Maui since she met him on the mountain. She didn’t know what cabin they gave him, or how he had taken his new assignment, would he have seen it as a cruel gesture? She knew that Maui had always wanted children but had never been able to have them. And now that he was in charge of the day-care center of the town had to scrounge like salt in an open wound. She wanted to talk to him, to know what he was thinking but something inside her didn’t want to. Not so soon. To see him again after almost two years after their last confrontation had been a hard blow.

"Do you think he will be... a danger to the children or something?" Sina sounded worried for a moment. Moana bristled with an unmistakable wave of anger.

"Of course not," she defended him furiously. "Maui can be many things but he will not do anything that will put anyone in danger. And less-so a child."

"I'm sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you," Moana deflated, shaking her head.

"No, you don’t have to apologize. It's just..." she swallowed and avoided her gaze." Maui can’t have children. He has always wanted them, but it is not possible."

"Oh." Sina put a hand to her chest. Moana nodded.

"You see? That's why, I hope it will not be too hard for him."

Her mother's sudden silence made her look up and meet her with sad eyes.

"You still care about him, don’t you?"

Moana looked away again and pursed her lips. Her mother had known of her feelings for the demigod and what had happened in their separation. She didn’t want to say the exact words but these were implicit in the question asked.

"I worry about all the members of my tribe," she said, getting to her feet. "I'm leaving, there's work to be done tomorrow."

"It's okay. Sorry for the inconveniences."

"You don’t have to apologise. You have done me a great favor by giving this task to someone else, I could hardly find time for my own duties. Good evening," she said, walking out the door of the tent. She listened to her mother's farewell as she lost herself in the mantle of torches that decorated the village away from the darkness of the streets.

Tomorrow would be the beginning of a difficult month.

* * *

 

The kakamora gave a powerful blow to his shell ending his speech. Moana nodded sympathetically and snapped her tongue in a series of moans and thudding with her oar on the sandy beach. A year ago a woman came to the island in a huge canoe. Her name was Kaikea and Moana had been envious of her the very moment they began to make friends. Kaikea had been born and lived all her life in her canoe, had never set foot on land. Her life was full of amazing adventures and one of them was that in her youth she was kidnapped by a kakamora ship. She spent so much time with them that she learned their _language_ and managed to escape creating a giant coconut costume that she swore she still kept in one of the compartments of her canoe. Moana had laughed so hard that she had given herself a  stomach ache. Due to the number of Kakamoras who had joined the trade in Motunui, she asked her to teach her the language and day after day, for months, she took advantage of the few free hours between dinner and bedtime to escape to the lagoon where her friend would teach her the language of the little pirates.

The Kakamora seemed satisfied with the negotiations, and they bowed their heads as a symbol of goodwill. Moana turned to a group that patiently awaited her orders, since she was the only one who understood these creatures.

"They want a repair of their mainsail and a cargo of twenty mangoes and ten fish. Give them priority, they have a long way to go and they have to leave as soon as possible."

"Yes, Moana," everyone nodded. The Kakamoras had been the last visitors for the moment and the matter had already been solved so she decided to leave the port, walking along the beach in search of the tranquility that could hardly be obtained in the village. Pua strode after her. The animal had grown into a large, large pig. He was still friendly and faithful as the best of friends, but he had started his own family in the hogshed and had stopped spending so much time with her. It was not that Moana reproached him, both had changed a lot over the years. The important thing is that at the end of the day they always had each other to spend a few minutes together.

The feathers that decorated her oar tickled her wrist at every step and she felt the feather cloak dragging the sand behind her feet. She had changed her simple clothes from the chief's daughter to some more showy and authoritarian ones, since she had to face as head of her island in front of a bunch of strangers every day. She had found that her new appearance gave more importance to her and imposed some respect from everyone who spoke to her. Along with her red feathered clothes and leaves they had created a showy headdress that she had refused to wear in her day to day life and had left it for celebrations and special moments. In its place she carried a colorful diadem with showy red and yellow flowers to match with the colors of the feathers.

A chorus of voices and laughter distracted her from her reverie and looked up to see the group of children from the village a few meters away gathered around the beach. Some of the children carried huge palm leaves and walked slowly from the thicket to the shore and another group was shouting and sticking out their tongues at huge black birds. Above the children, standing out in the group, was Maui. The demigod was teaching children how to properly frighten carnivorous birds with their _warrior faces_ and threatening postures. Moana knew from experience that so much drama was not necessary but Maui was giving a great class on how to be a warrior to protect the neediest.

"Scream hard!" He led a defiant step forward, bending over with a sudden movement. He grunted and stuck out his tongue, causing the frigatebird to fly away with a frightened shriek.

The little ones with the palm leaves hurried to the water and when the last one arrived they all shouted with joy at seeing how the last little turtle disappeared in the water. The leaves flew through the air as they were thrown from the excitement. The joy was contagious and Moana found herself smiling as the little children ran to Maui and he took them in his arms and let them climb up his legs. Moana shook her head and with a smile on her lips she turned to go back the way she had come. She had been rather deluded in believing that Maui would be resentful or upset about caring for the villagers' children. He was in his element, surrounded by little fans who drank in his words and admired him unconditionally. If there was a place on the island for Maui, it was with them.

She walked off the beach leaving the laughter and voices behind her without realizing that Maui had noticed her presence and watched her walk in silence.

 

* * *

 

 

Barely a week had passed and the nursery group was already known as The Children of Maui. Moana had tried her best to stay away from anything that had to do with the demigod. All her days were complete with her duties and responsibilities so it wasn’t an overly difficult task. What she couldn’t run away from was the amount of islanders who talked about how wonderful it was to have Maui there and how much their children were learning. Mothers kept talking to each other about how their children came with wreaths and necklaces of stones and small seashells they had made during the hours they spent with Maui. She had been present one afternoon when the little ones returned from one of the classes with their eyes wide open and unable to remain calm. When their mothers asked what they had learned they said that Maui had taught them how to fight giant eels. They looked at each other in surprise and concern, and told them that there were no such creatures in Motunui. To which the little ones responded with an outpouring _'you’re welcome'_ with a thoughtful and egocentric attitude, very much like certain shapeshifter.

Moana couldn’t help but giggle as she tried to hide a laugh behind her hand. She really would have loved to be in that sort of defense-against-legendary-monsters class just to see the faces they had made during the lesson.

Maui had adapted surprisingly well to his responsibilities at Motunui. Moana learned that he had moved to a small cabin on the edge of the village. It was one of the new ones built for new visitors and merchants so it was somewhat removed from the center of town but she had not heard a single complaint from him. His neighbors had no problem with him and were more than happy to be next door to a demigod. Apparently he was quiet and quite polite and respectful of the elders and young people he met when he left for work. And despite his popularity, Moana knew firsthand that no villager, male or female, had passed beyond the threshold of his door. It was not that she had the right to complain about someone spending the night in his house or how Maui decided to live during his stay, but the idea of knowing someone was sharing his bed with him made her blood boil.

She knew it was selfish of her but there was no way her heart would listen to her mind and realize that the circumstances changed years ago and that they might remain as they were forever. Maui had respected her wishes and had stayed as far away from her as possible. Moana had seen him more than once in the distance engaging in conversation with Siaki during meals, helping the elders with their looms or performing one of his well-known and famous classes surrounded by children. Not once had she dared to take the step she craved and begun a conversation or even approached him. They had behaved like two strangers since he came to live with them even though when she pretended not to pay attention she could feel his dark eyes on her. Every time she looked up to meet them, Maui had already left or moved to talk to someone.

Needless to say, her parents had already noticed her attitude but they had preferred to take a sideways glance rather than say out loud what they thought. When her daughter arrived from her last journey lonely and desolate after having sailed with the one who was supposed to be the love of her life, they became furious on Tui's part and saddened on Sina’s. She had tried to explain the situation to them as best as she could, but she couldn't even understand it without the idea that Maui never really trusted her, and much less thought of her as a possible partner. A month after returning from her disastrous journey she decided to do the tattoo on her back. A tattoo she'd worn covered most of the time. Not because of shame or regret but because it had been a promise made to herself, her family, and to Maui. She was mortal, one day she would die and her body would return to earth. She didn’t want to be immortal and live forever without being able to meet those she loved, but she hadn’t wanted to leave Maui alone. So her physical body would stay in the mortal world and her spirit would reincarnate in order to reach those whom she had loved and to cross the heavens with which she loves. The tattoo had been painful. Very painful. But it had been worth the promise of a future. In addition, every time she closed her eyes, in her dreams, she felt that she could fly and how she skirted the skies accompanied by another winged figure. Maui had confessed his love for her but at the same time his fear of an uncertain future. He had rejected her feelings by accusing her of being just a child. Now she had a promise engraved on her skin, a promise that she would be there with him forever. Whenever he wanted and if she would feel strong enough to forgive the damage his mistrust and his words had caused. Maui might have been right about many things but one: She wasn’t like any of the people he had known. She was Moana from Motunui.

* * *

 

"How is your wife?" Maui asked when Siaki joined him for lunch. He had gotten along well with all the members of the tribe who had opened their arms with a warm welcome to their great family, but with the only one with whom he had formed some friendship, to his surprise, it had been the young man. It would be because he saved his life in the past or because of the uncomfortable situation when he had asked to let him have a _date_ with Moana, his _wife_ , at the time. The point is that they now met almost every day, when their schedules allowed. At first Maui thought there might be some shock over what happened but the young man seemed more than grateful for how things turned out as he was now happily married and fathered a small child.

"You know, she insists she's fine but she can’t get out of bed yet." Maui opened her mouth to ask another question, but Siaki stepped forward. "And Rakau is fine, too, he's perfect. You should see him, he would fit in the palm of your hand."

Maui smiled bitterly aware that he was now talking to a proud first-time father.

"I'll come and pay you a visit one of these days."

"We would be delighted, and your little future pupil too." Siaki patted his back.

"You know it's only temporary. As soon as Arona recovers, she'll scream and chase after her students again." Siaki grimaced.

"Did they tell you?"

"What? about their teacher, the screaming madwoman? No, I have not heard anything."

They both laughed.

"Yes, it is true that she doesn’t have the best temperament to run a school, but motherhood is doing her good. A few tears escaped from her eyes when she saw the drawings you gave me."

"The children miss her, asked about her a lot, and insisted on making her a little gift."

"Who could say no?"

"The gods know I can’t," he uttered a dramatic sigh. A few minutes remained in quiet silence. Siaki looked down at the roasted fish on his plate and punctured it with one finger, not knowing how to ask the next question. It was a complicated subject that Maui had avoided from the beginning but really needed to talk about it. He didn’t know the intentions of the demigod and knew that his stay had an expiration date.

"Hey," he began, he waited for the demigod to let him know that he had listened to him to continue. "I know you may not want to talk about this, but Arona and I are wondering... are you planning to do something? I don’t know the whole story but after your last trip Moana, I don’t know, she hasn’t been the same and you have been almost two years without appearing. I know that your relationship is nobody's business but yours, but many of us have been really worried."

Maui clenched his jaw.

"Yes, you're right." He stood up, half-stopping to one side, "it's none of your business."

Siaki got up and went after him.

"Look, I'm sorry."

"Let it be."

"I can not." He took a couple of strides to stand in front of him. "Moana is a friend of mine and I also consider you a friend. I owe life to both of you and if it weren’t for you I wouldn’t have met the love of my life. She is focusing on her duties to escape what had happened and when I saw that you didn’t reappear I thought that it was over. There have come navigators from all corners of the world called by the rumors and the legends of Motunui and have demanded her hand. Moana has always refused. We really believed that it was the end of everything and then you showed up." He waved his hand, pointing. "When I saw you in the village I thought that everything would change, that you had come back for her but weeks have passed and... " He put a hand to the nape of his neck, scratching, nervous,"nothing has happened. Nothing has changed. You keep being like strangers to each other."

Maui pumped his chest between annoyed and angry. Mini Maui woke up and raised his fists menacingly. Maui ignored him and opened his mouth to speak, but an anguished voice interrupted them.

"Maui, Siaki, have you seen Kaiwi?" Said a young woman, her face disengaged with concern. Maui frowned and turned to face her.

"No, what happened?"

"She was playing with a group of friends and they say that she ran to the jungle. We've been looking for her for an hour, and we don’t know where she might be." She let out a sob, covering her face with her hands.

The jungle wasn’t dangerous in terms of predators. There were no snakes or any kind of animal that could be a threat but still there was the river, the holes in the earth, rocks and miles of grove where it was easy to get lost or fall and get hurt. More since she was just a little girl who barely knew the terrain of the place.

"Don’t worry, we'll find her," Maui assured her. He turned to Siaki decisively. "Tell Moana and set up a search group. I'll go ahead and look from the air."

"Yes," Siaki replied, nodding before running off in search of the village chief.

"Alani, I need you to calm down and tell me where she disappeared. We have to start from there."

"They were playing with the coconut trees, the children say that she got angry and ran into the forest. Kaiwi is not like that, she doesn’t do those things, she is a very sweet girl."

Maui was in complete agreement; Kaiwi was a little girl of four years and was one of the students in his class. She was a shy, sweet, innocent girl who was totally thrilled with the yellow hibiscus. Every morning on her way to class, she was responsible for picking up a small handful and gave it as a gift to him. He was not ashamed to admit that he had kept every small gift in his house even though the flowers had barely lasted for a couple of hours before wilting.

"Go with Moana and her group, okay? We’re going to find her, I promise. We will not stop looking for her." She let out a sob and smiled in spite of the tears.

"Thank you, thank you," she repeated gratefully. She said goodbye and ran to the village leaving him behind. Maui lifted the hook and shapeshifter with a click, expanded the huge hawk wings and flew over the treetops.

He took three slow laps around the island like a vulture circling its prey.

His enormous visual ability in his hawk form gave him a visibility that as a human he would never have had. He could see every liana in each tree, every coconut in each palm tree, and every rodent or marsupial running between the fallen leaves on the ground and the tall grass. His eyes caught the red feathers of Moana's robes as the group searched the ground. He saw her pointing with her oar and giving orders with determination to the group that accompanied her.

In one of his passes he noticed a hidden corner where there was a great blaze of golden and red flowers. It was there that he saw a small figure crouched among the hibiscus with her tiny body curled up against herself. He let out a shriek and spun around sharply.

He looked up again and plummeted as he recognized Moana at a point in the middle of the woods. He stood suspended a few feet off the ground and uttered a sharp croak. Moana turned to him, her eyes wide with surprise, surprise that became realization when their eyes met.

"Everybody here! Maui has found her!" She shouted to her search party as she ran to him. Maui nodded and took flight back to the hibiscus clearing where he had found Kaiwi. He turned human again and fell into the middle of the flower garden. The sound alerted the girl and she lifted her face from her arms: her face was red and wet with tears and thick streaks of snot from her nose. Maui approached her with a radiant smile.

"You found my garden!" He exclaimed raising his hands to cover the whole area. She let out a sob and sniffled. Maui walked over and sat in front of her. "Oh, that's not right, you're making a mess." He picked up one of the leaves from the bushes around them and helped her blow her nose. "See? better. Now tell me what you do so far from home?"

He heard a series of murmurs in a low voice and the weeping began again.

"Hey, hey, I don’t understand anything, come on, it's okay. Nobody's mad at you, I just want to know if you're okay." He frowned. "Have the children bullied you? Because you know that _Maui’s tribe_ does not allow bullying."

She nodded and sniffed again.

"Who was it? They are going to spend the rest of the month hanging from a coconut tree" this made the girl, who was now more confident and secure giggle.

"Ulani and Atiu laughed because I give you flowers," she said a little louder.

"Why? I love the flowers!"

"I don’t know." She pouted and the tears returned. "They don’t stop singing stupid songs and make ugly drawings."

"That's not right," Maui frowned.

"I told them to stop singing but they still sing louder and say I can’t be your girlfriend because I'm ugly and I have weird hair."

Maui blinked a couple of times stunned with surprise. He really hadn’t expected that.

"That's a lie, you're the prettiest girl on the island." He thought it over and whispered. "But don’t tell the others or they'll get mad at me, okay?"

Kaiwi laughed and wiped her nose with her forearm.

"Am I really pretty?"

"Of course. Ulani and Atiu are just jealous because your flowers are the most beautiful."

"Then you'd like to be my boyfriend?"

Maui avoided a laugh. It was not the first time a child came and asked to be her/his boyfriend. The little ones confused respect and admiration with the wrong feelings. Surely in a few months she wouldn’t even remember all this, but how to break the heart of a bereaved little girl?

"But of course. From now on you are Kaiwi the girlfriend of the shapeshifter, demigod of the wind and the sea and hero of all: Maui" he said moving his hand in front of him as he said his title. He looked at her impishly and raised an eyebrow. “What do you think?"

Her smile brightened with happiness. Maui took the opportunity to extend his hand.

"And now, young lady, it's time to go home or your parents are going to worry a lot." She accepted his hand and stood shakily for having held the posture for so long.

"Aren’t you angry?"

"Of course not. I can’t get angry with my girlfriend, can I?" He got up still holding her hand and turned to go to the village. He was stunned halfway through the first step when he saw the entire search party peering down at them from the trees.

"Mom!" Kaiwi shouted, letting go of his hand and running toward the woman who rushed towards her with her arms outstretched and her face filled with tears of relief. "Mom, I'm the girlfriend of Maui!"

The laughter spread through the clearing, filled with relief and calm. The girl had appeared safe and sound and that was all that mattered.

"You cause a sensation wherever you go" Moana said once Maui reached her. He shrugged and snorted.

"Of course, I'm Maui." Despite his joking tone, she didn’t laugh. She shook her head and walked away back to the village. Kaiwi's father appeared at his side gratefully thanking him for finding his daughter. He was soon surrounded by the rest of the group who thanked him for his help. Everyone returned together to the village walking in a harmonious and relieved community that kept joking about the new title of the little girl.

When they reached the village the rest of the people were waiting for them. The children were more than happy to see their friend again. Including the two that had been the cause of the whole incident. Maui had the impulse to intervene when they approached her but Kaiwi announced to them with bravado that now she was the girlfriend of Maui and that if they bully her the demigod would punish them. Of course, they didn’t believe her, to which Maui intruded threatening anyone who would ever mess with her again. It was all they needed to hear as they both turned pale for fear of angering their teacher and they apologized again and again to her, promising that they would _never, ever, ever_ laugh at her hair again, or sing one more song. In addition, the three decided to secretly collect more flowers for the demigod. Maui could barely hide the smile that remained on his face all afternoon.

Dinner time was busy. The children decided to surround their hero and Kaiwi went up to eat sitting on his lap despite her mother's complaints. Maui had detracted from it, and she had stood on her throne of honor with her head held high. Siaki, who had become accustomed to accompanying him during his meals, had to remove a pair of offended students when he insisted that the seat to the right of his friend belonged to him. That was something Maui couldn’t argue with; He loved the children but Siaki had become a good friend in spite of the annoying discussion they had had that morning. Maui hadn’t had a friend like that in a long time. Mini Maui seemed pleased with the whole situation and was telling stories on his chest to the children who watched him entranced while nibbling on their dinner.

"You know, when I told you to do something, I meant something else, I didn't mean look for a new girlfriend," Siaki joked at his side. Maui gave him a cold look.

"Shut up if you don’t want to-" he noticed a presence at his side and turned to see Moana pass next to him. She stopped, raised her hand, squeezed his arm gently, and with a glance over her shoulder she continued her way, disappearing in the depths of the trees.

Maui watched her leave with his mouth open in surprise. This had been the first time she had reacted to him instead of ignoring him and looking like they didn’t share the same space. Siaki gave him a strong nudge, catching his attention.

"What are you doing? Go with her!"

"What?" He asked, stunned.

"Go!" He grabbed his plate. Maui took the little Kaiwi in his arms and left her on the ground to get up.

"Where are you going?" She asked with the food in her hands.

"I'm sorry, Kaiwi, the chief is calling me."

"But are you coming back?"

"If I don’t come back we'll see each other tomorrow in class, okay?"

"Yes. Goodnight."

Maui tousled her hair and ran after a quick farewell. Mini Maui, on his back, said goodbye to the children as he walked away.

When he reached where Moana was supposed to be, he found her at the edge of the sea. She had removed the feather cloak and set it aside on the surface of the volcanic rock with her oar. The light of the moon illuminated her, making her skin look like liquid silver as she moved her hands and hips in a silent dance to the rhythm of the waves that whipped the rocks.

He took a step forward without knowing very well what to do. On one hand, Siaki had insisted that she had called him but when he found her she had shown no interest in starting a conversation. He watched her dance for a couple of seconds and made his way forward, leaving the hook beside her belongings. He stood beside her and began to imitate her movements awkwardly. Moana seemed to notice his presence, for she gave him a quick look of surprise before returning to her dance with indifference.

He really had no idea what he was doing. As Moana moved to the right he went to the left, she stepped back and Maui had to dodge quickly so he would not hit her. He was so distracted trying not to bother her that, after a wrong step, he ended up tripping over his own feet and falling headlong into the water.

He crawled out, thanks to the help of the ocean that propelled him over the volcanic rocks. He almost burst out in annoyance when he heard the most beautiful sound in the world: Moana was laughing. Not a simple smile or the giggle he had been seeing these last few days, but a real laugh. He hadn’t heard her laugh for such a long time, and she ended up with a pain in her stomach. She leaned forward, grabbing her stomach without being able to stop laughing despite the pain. Mini Maui had reacted equally and hid his smiling mouth behind his hands. Realizing that she had been caught, she approached him and bent down, pulling one of the damp curtains of hair from his face.

"I'm sorry, are you hurt?" she asked, still unable to contain her laughter. Maui sat up shaking his hair. His midnight bath had been totally worth it.

"Only my pride," he moaned, flipping his hair over his shoulder. Moana watched him dry it in silence, it wasn’t until he felt himself observed that he looked at her intently. Moana had called him here for something and was not going to go without hearing it.

"What you've done today... thank you," she said with a slightly more serious attitude. "I don’t know how long it would take us to find her without your help."

"They're my charge, it's my responsibility." He shrugged. Moana's gaze twinkled momentarily. She would never have believed that the immature demigod would take his duties on the island so seriously, much less behave like that in front of a pack of children.

Moana did something that surprised him again: she sat a few feet in front of him and took an open position for a chat. The tattoos on her arms were visible beneath the strands of her hair, unlike the one on her back that was covered by her thick mat of dark curls. Maui felt the urge to sit next to her and pull it apart so he could see the drawings in the moonlight, but he knew that such a reaction was going to be a setback in their already fragile relationship.

"I was a bit worried at first when you were assigned this task," she said apologetically.

"Hey!" Mauri frowned, somewhat hurt. It was true that he wasn’t the best example for many but he really took to his role as a teacher. Moana seemed to notice it as she raised her hands apologetically and stammered,

"No, not that I didn’t trust you with them... it's just... I thought it was cruel to put you in charge of a school." Maui gave an exasperated sigh. They were beginning to touch on a very sensitive subject but at least he was glad to know that she didn’t think he was a fool. At least not totally.

"It's okay, it's not the first time I've been surrounded by them." She looked at him with interest.

"Have you been in charge of schools before?"

"Oh, no, this is my first time as a teacher, but every time I came to an island all of them would pass on all the babies in the village for me to give them a _kiss of blessing._ " He rolled his eyes in quotation marks with his fingers. Moana laughed and he snorted in response. "Don’t laugh, it's more horrible than it sounds."

"Come on, it's just kissing a few thousand babies. What could go wrong?" Maui huffed despite the teasing and raised his index finger so she would stop talking so he could make his point.

"What could go wrong? _What could go wrong?_ " He repeated, growing more and more exasperated for seconds, something she found extremely amusing. "One of the mothers dropped a baby when I went to kiss him."

Moana, a hand to her mouth, stifling laughter suddenly.

"Did he fall to the ground?"

"What? No! Worse: I ended up giving him a kiss on the buttocks."

For an incredibly tense second only the breeze and the sea were heard before Moana burst out laughing and grabbed her stomach.

"Enough! It's not funny! I haven’t visited that island ever since!"

"But millennia have passed, surely they don’t even remember," she managed to say after another wave of laughter.

"When I flew out of there they were talking about making him his own statue. I'm afraid to go back and find that their ancestral deity is a six-month-old ass kissed by me."

She again suffered another fit of laughter adding her own wild details, with which Maui found more repulsive than funny, but that would depend on who had lived the story.

They decided to change the subject and spoke long and hard about the latest Motunui news. Neither of them made any reference to their personal lives during the last two years of separation and held a friendly and largely political talk. They also talked about their old friends, about how Siaki had married Arona and how they had been gladdened by the birth of their first child. Moana told him about how his idea of the lighthouse had changed the lives of many of the sailors who had drifted in the middle of the night. They talked until their mouths were dry and their eyelids heavy with sleep but both had been thirsty for this too long to take the first step and say goodbye. But, as always, Maui had to open his big mouth:

"I've seen you get new tattoos too," he said, as Moana's shoulders tensed suddenly. He knew he'd said something he should not. "You know, the arms, it suits you."

Moana looked down at the tattoos.

"I always wanted to do more after my _malu_." She looked back at him, but Maui realized that she was actually looking over his head, avoiding eye contact. "I think it's time for me to go now. We have to get up early tomorrow."

She stood up and worried that her hair was in place before she ducked under her cloak and oar. Silence and uncertainty had so tightened the mood that it could have been cut with a knife. Maui had so many questions and requests in mind and so many of them would end with a bad reaction. He decided to squeeze his jaw tightly so he wouldn’t let a word escape. Mini Maui cheered up and kicked him, he moaned in a low whisper, tensing the muscle to make it stop.

"Good night, Maui," she said as she left. Maui wrinkled his eyelids and gave a low sigh.

"Good night, Moana."

With his head down he saw her walk away in silence, but then she stopped. He looked up with his heart pounding in his ears. Her voice was soon heard.

"I'm coming here every night to dance..." The mute question lay in the air, it was mini Maui, with another kick, who made him react.

"I'm really horrible at the hula, I might need a couple of classes. You know, for my students"  came a snort and a phrase from her that he didn’t hear.

He didn’t care. He could ask her tomorrow.

 

* * *

 

During the mornings nothing changed. Maui devoted himself to his classes with his beloved students and Moana remained at the head of all her people. But at night something new had been born hidden in a deserted corner of a hidden beach. Neither of them disappeared at once, sometimes it was Maui who went before and stood on the rock looking at the vast ocean waiting for his dance teacher and other times, it was Moana who came first and started without him. Most of their nocturnal stays were dedicated to the dance and to a small talk when the eternal night fell on them. They took advantage that they could hardly be seen to speak more comfortably. Neither of them had decided that, but that's what they had become accustomed to. It would be that in the middle of the blackness they couldn’t see how much they had changed these last two years and, when speaking without seeing, it seems that they had returned to the past.

However, there were other times when no one wanted to dance, despite the great advances of the demigod, and they sat next to each other talking about what they had done during the day or their plans for tomorrow. They didn’t talk about those missing two years, leaving them behind as if they had never happened and were not the long chasm that had divided them from their _more than friendship_. Something that had changed with their daily meetings had gone unnoticed by both of them and at the same time had been totally intentional: their closeness. They both started talking face to face with a respectable distance, that changed a gradually, eventually with them sitting side by side and, ending up, as they were at the moment; Arm in arm and enjoying some laughs. Because Maui had discovered that nothing made him happier than making her laugh. Neither flying, nor planning on the waves, nor becoming an iguana, nor the shrimp, nor dancing, nor even singing, what he liked best in this world was that Moana's face twisted into a laugh and ended up holding their stomachs from the laughter. That was, without a doubt, his reason for being in those moments. He had to see her smile, he had to see her happy.

"How is our friend Tamatoa?" She asked, glancing at him with a half smile. Maui shifted uneasily, not knowing how to respond.

"Well, I haven’t seen him since our last trip," he finally admitted, rubbing his hands together. She gave him a startled look.

"Haven’t you gone to Lalotai?" He shook his head.

"I've spent almost all the time on the islet," Moana blinked a couple of times.

"Islet? What island?"

"Where you found me."

"What? What about _the beast_?" She leaned forward impulsively.

"Beast? What are you talking about? There is no beast in that place."

"The sailors began staying away from that island years ago. There were roars and grunts," she explained, still with her eyes wide. Maui closed his mouth with a loud click. "They said that the island was guarded by a sea monster and no one dared to step on it. It was heard from afar. We were going to use it as a point of trade, but none wanted to attract the beast."

"There was no beast." He stood between angry and nervous because Moana demanded to know more, but that was her, she always wanted to know more. She stood up and cut him off.

"What was it, then?"

"I don’t know."

"You said you were on that island all this time, you must have heard or seen something."

"No, I haven’t seen or heard anything." He moved to the side trying to leave her behind but she followed him.

"Maui, whatever it is, it’s okay."

"No, it's not okay, because what you heard was _me_ ," he snorted in her face. Moana stepped back, her shoulders tense with astonishment.

"What…? Your…?"

"Yes, it was me. That's why I had to escape from there, I was losing my head" they both looked at each other intensely in a long silence. Maui finally shook her head and moved away. "This has been a bad idea. We'd better go to bed."

He took a few more steps but stopped when Moana clutched his wrist with determination.

"Tell me about it," she said in a tone that sounded more like an order.

"No."

"Maui," she said in a more pleading tone. He snorted bitterly.

"I can’t. Not now."

"When then?"

"I'm not in the mood to talk about this," he growled, jerking her hand away. This time she didn’t intervene and let him leave. On the way to the forest he bent down to take his hook and took a few more steps, abruptly stopping only a few inches from the tree line. Moana had not opened her mouth, but he could feel her intense gaze sinking into his back. He gripped the hook tightly, so hard that he felt the bone creak beneath his palm. He sucked in air and let it out.

"I thought I was becoming Te Kā," he whispered. "Each time I closed my eyes, every time I tried to sleep... I woke up in flames. I knew that if I had stayed longer I would have lost my mind. Every night I dreamed that I was dying or..." he swallowed, not knowing how to tell to the cause of his greatest fears, the stories he starred in every night in his nightmares. "I came back because I needed it. I just wanted to come back one more time, but then I saw your tattoo when you were on the beach. I-I was saved by a hawk in my dreams. I only remember one, the latest one, but I can swear it was always there. When I returned to Motunui, the nightmares, the flames, became extinct. It was like coming home."

He felt a hand press into his back and gave a slight twist slowly turning to face her. Moana was right in front of him with a raised hand now touching his chest and her face serious with her gaze fixed on his. Slowly they approached each other until they found themselves embracing. Maui could barely conceal a gasp of satisfaction as he felt her real form in his arms again. This wasn’t a dream. Moana was hugging him and he felt the world around him disappear. Nothing was more important at that moment than the young woman in front of him. Not his hook, not the islands, not the breeze, only her.

Moana wasn’t stupid, he was sure, he knew she would have managed to draw a correlation from his nightmares to Te Kā, the demon whose heart had been torn from her breast and her hatred and despair had turned her into a terrible demon. Maui had given his heart to the wayfinder. That embrace wasn’t only a form of comfort but also a way of sharing it because Moana was the only carrier and owner of it.

_Moana was, herself, the heart of Maui._

 

* * *

 

Moana adjusted her feather crown for the fourth time. There was no way it would stay fitted to the size of her skull, and if it didn’t fall it would squeeze her as if she had a rope tied tightly around her forehead. But today was a special day. That morning she had woken up with the whole day off. She had taken the time to get ready and help with the preparations for tonight's party. She didn’t usually work on her birthday after all. Since becoming a chief, it was the only day of the year that she had a break and she was going to make the most of it. Or at least that had been her intention, but when she marched into town to try to get into Maui's class, he had grabbed her oar, spun her and sent her back the way she had come with a complaint about " _shattering her surprise_ ", and had dismissed her with a kiss on the cheek and a little push before he returned to lock in the cabin that had been occupied with his students for three days. And now there she was, about to leave for her twenty-third birthday party and with a severe headache.

"Leave the crown," Sina complained, coming in with a long cloak of feathers.

"But it hurts."

"It will only be for tonight."

"Of course it's only for tonight. I'm going to throw it at the first torch I find."

"Moana..."

"Oh, pardon, I'll fall into the first torch I find. It will be a real pity."

"Try to avoid catching fire for today, okay?"

"That would be an embarrassing sight on my part."

"Totally. Now finish putting the bracelets on, they’re waiting for you."

"They're not going to start without me."

"I remind you that last year the mussels were finished before you arrived." Moana raised her head, alert.

"And this year Maui is here, there will be nothing left for you when I get out of here." She stood up, gripping the oar, and turned to her mother. "How do i look?"

Sina smiled knowingly.

"Beautiful."

Moana lifted her head with a bright smile and turned around making her cloak dance with movement.

The dance and the music began as soon as she left the house of the chiefs and descended the stairs. She saw a multitude of familiar faces on the way to where the party was to be held, but she couldn’t help but notice that there was no hook or head of curly hair standing out above the crowd. She swallowed, telling herself that she wasn’t going to let anything ruin that day and she raised her head, reaffirming her step, preceded by the sound of the wood of her oar when it struck the floor.

The people moved with her and sat on the ground to start the event. The music and the friendly talk followed them for the next few hours. Her headache was increasing and the fact that there was an empty space at her side, where her supposed husband should have been, had caused her to be in a terribly bad mood. Neither the food, nor the music, nor the amiable talk of her parents, nor the dancers made that her skull throb from the pressure. When the night fell the torches were magically lit and the music of the drums changed to a sinister sound, filled with tension, gaining public attention. Suddenly, the clearing where the dancers assembled was filled with small figures followed by a robust man. The children had their whole bodies decorated with paintings resembling Maui's own tattoos, but despite their war paint they looked shy, fearful and more than one of them about to cry. Maui stood in the middle of two groups so that no one was behind him and everyone could see his movements. Moana laughed at the sight of his face: he had paint stains that had obviously been the work of his students but had gone disastrously wrong. Something that made it extremely sweet.

She saw him mumbling to the children, apparently they were too frightened to start, and Moana could hear the whispers from Maui about how much they had rehearsed and how well they were going to do. It didn’t seem to work as all the little ones gave her a terrified look. It must have been impressive for a group of first-timers to perform at the birthday of the chief of the tribe and more when Moana wore her ceremonial attire.

"Come on, kids! How did we rehearse it, warrior face!" Maui exclaimed. The only one who obeyed him eagerly was Kaiwi, who stood in an aggressive position, showing her tongue with a shrill scream. Other children tried, but their cry was barely a whimper, and more than one had smeared the face with tears.

"Warrior face!" Maui repeated more emphatically. This time more children joined but they heard one cry behind their backs. The parents and assembled members laughed which made the situation considerably worse. Moana laughed compassionately and made a decision. She rose abruptly, untying her cloak, left the feather crown where she had been sitting and jumped over her dinner to run toward them.

The children looked at her with wide eyes, but she headed for Maui.

"You're a mess," she laughed, rubbing a huge pinch of paint on his cheek with two fingers and running it all over her own face trying to imitate the masks her fellow warriors wore. Once she was happy with her work, she positioned herself next to Maui and gave a loud shout leaning forward with her tongue out. The children's mouths dropped open in surprise, even the monotonous murmur of the party talks suddenly ceased. Maui smiled between surprised and delighted and imitated her, beginning the haka.

The pair moved in unison with the same terrifying face, screams and thumps. The little chorus of dancers soon joined them in recalling the footsteps they had been rehearsing with Maui over the last few days, and after a few minutes the only thing they heard was a set of childish growls and slaps in unison accompanied by the rhythm of the drums.

Moana remembered that haka, it was the first one Maui had taught her in Tamatoa's lair. She doubted it was the only one he knew so she was sure it was dedicated to her. It was her haka.

Years had passed from that day, but she had remembered the movements since she had repeated them on other nights so as not to forget them. She didn’t want to forget anything that had been taught by her best friend for so long.

Their movements were not perfect, but this was not about perfection but of union and having fun, to enjoy and to return to what was and ended. This was theirs.

The dance ended with a thundering general shout where the drums stopped to make it more intense. The applause and cheers of enthusiasm soon arrived. They could hear some other parents calling for and congratulating their children.

Maui and Moana shared an intense look that broke when she let out a laugh as she saw his face again with parched paint.

Her amusement faded as she looked back at the place she had to return to. Her place precedent in the party like head of the town and host of the feast. The most remote corner of the celebrations. Before she took a step back to her seat the music returned and all her fellow dancers were in position. Moana looked at them with a mixture of surprise and astonishment. She knew what that posture was, it was the same one that she had been dancing every night with Maui. He was looking at her with a big smile with his right hand raised in the air and the left down, one foot in front and one behind. Moana soon imitated them and began the dance together. The children were clumsy but it was clear that they had been taking their studies very seriously. They moved in unison, shaking their hips and waving their arms around them. Her skirt flipped in the air on one of the steps and she could see her tattoos peeking through the fabric. She was having a better time than she had in a long time. The children laughed as they danced. In the tribe had always had traditional dances for boys and for girls but here, now, that wasn’t important. They had danced a dance of warriors and now they were dancing a hula with movements characterized only in women. And it was correct. They were having fun, they were one. Her hair was a mess, ash makeup, perfumed oils and colored pigments were disfigured by paint and sweat, her ceremonial cloak and crown had become totally useless in her seat... but she had never been happier.

Her long mane hit her face after a last spin and everyone was quiet when the music ended. The screams and whistles didn’t wait and the dancers bowed to thank their audience. Their little dance congregation clasped hands and bowed together again. Then the children let go and ran to their parents who took them in their arms, talking about how proud they were and how well they had done. Moana smiled triumphantly until she looked back to her seat. This was her day, she should have the opportunity and the right to choose how to spend it, not to be sitting in the same place all night in an uncomfortable dress and being the only one who didn’t have fun at her own party. She looked up at Maui and her smile disappeared. His face was serious but his eyes burned with melancholy as he saw all the families gathered around him. She couldn’t help but remember that no matter how much he taught these children, the hours he spent with them or the songs and dances he showed them. None of them were his.

He wasn’t going to be able to ever have such a family.

Neither of them wanted to be there now. They didn’t have to be. Moana squeezed his hand, still together, and Maui blinked awake from his reverie and looked at her intently.

"Let's go," she whispered decisively. Maui frowned.

"Where?"

"Anywhere. _Run_ " She gave a strong tug and ran out into the forest with Maui still by her hand. She heard the screams of her parents but ignored them. Tomorrow they would have a long talk about how a chief should behave, but today? Today she would forget that she was a chief and she was going to behave like Moana.

They ran and ran through the shadowy woods until, due to the darkness, Maui hit a tree. Moana, still by his hand, was thrown back and rolled on the floor, still laughing. Maui rose with a groan of pain trying to relieve the blow by rubbing softly, but then realized the situation and turned to her with concern.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." She laughed, still lying on the grass.

"You shouldn’t run like this in the middle of the night."

"If we hadn’t, we would have been caught before we could run away."

"And that's wrong? I thought you were having a good time" Maui crawled to her side. Moana lifted her head to look at him, still lying in the floor.

"That is the question. I was having a good time. I work daily and the only free day I have is on my birthday and I'm forced to sit there in those uncomfortable clothes that squeeze my head and itch. I have told them that they’re small for me but it is difficult to find materials for a new model and it was a lot of work. They just let me take it off to dance with the other women but it's just a ceremonial dance, it's not something I do for fun. I was having a good time with you and I didn’t want to sit down for the rest of the night."

"Good enough," he said, rubbing his nose again. Moana gave him an apologetic look and sat across from him.

"Sorry, I didn’t see the tree."

"Good thing, I thought it was revenge for making you do the warrior face in front of your people."

"I loved that," she defended herself. "It’s good that we learn new things. Traditions are good but we shouldn’t live stuck."

"Totally agree."

Maui got to his feet and held out his hand to help her.

"Where did you leave your hook?" Moana asked once they started walking again.

"At home, it was not very useful at the party." She nodded with understanding, even though something within her would have wanted him to bring it. She wouldn’t have said no to a night flight around Motunui.

They came to the beach and sat on the sand. The moon was waning above their heads but it was a clear night covered with stars. Moana could see the bright, misty cord above their heads.

"I really liked the dance you had prepared."

"They're good children. When I told them we were going to prepare a surprise for your birthday, everyone wanted to participate."

"I see that they love you very much."

"And I love them."

Moana was silent, her heart low. She knew how much Maui loved his little ones and it was going to be very painful to part with them when Arona came back after her break. Then she noticed something, she had given him a month's stay but had completely forgotten when he  arrived or how much time had passed. Maui had adapted magnificently to the island and in a very short time it seemed like he had lived with them all their life. She knew she had to talk about it with him, it was her duty... but not tonight. Just putting into words the fact that Maui had to leave the island left a bitter taste in her mouth. He had come in his time of greatest need, desperate to find a way to ease his pain, and with that he had also helped the pain of Moana's emptiness. She had to admit, she had missed Maui and having him there had been the remedy she needed. More these days when they had shared their moments alone like they used to. The friendship had cooled almost to cracking and fading but the warmth of their day to day had brought back old feelings. Feelings she wasn’t sure would be reciprocated.

Slowly she dropped to him and leaned against his chest. Maui seemed tense for a few moments before relaxing and wrapping his arm around her waist.

"How old are you now?" Maui asked in a whisper after a long silence. Moana sighed, got up  and stood back. At this moment in the dark they could forget their appearances, it was just them. But now Maui had touched the crux of the matter that they would never be able to be together in anything beyond that in the dim times: Moana was a mortal and was barely a child compared to him.

"Not enough. Good night, Maui."

She turned to leave but Maui took her hand to stop her.

"I still have something to give you."

Moana turned at the exact moment he bent to kiss her lips. She let out a broken moan and melted into the touch before realizing what was happening and leaning back furiously.

"How dare you? How!" she burst out furiously. "You can’t come here after years to torment me again! You can’t!" she groaned, her hands clutching her head hysterically. "You can’t play like that with me."

"I'm not playing. I'm being very serious."

"You rejected me, Maui! You laughed at my feelings!"

"I've never done such a thing."

"You told me! You said I couldn’t love you! You looked me in the face and...!" Her voice broke. "You looked me in the face and you told me that I couldn’t love you. This emptiness in me," she laid her hands on her chest,"it's because of you."

Maui took a step forward and stroked her cheeks by wiping the paint from her face.

"Let me heal it, let me start over from scratch. Show you that I can’t live without you."

"What about everything you said?" she asked in a broken tone.

"I was being stupid and selfish! I don’t care about the damned future, Mo," he said, inches from her mouth. "I've tried to forget it, to forget you, but I can’t. I love you, Moana."

"Maui," she said in a heartbreaking sob. "Why?" She asked, her eyes moist. He pulled her to his chest and hugged her tightly. There were so many questions; why now? Why did he do this to her? Why had he waited years? Why had he made her suffer like that? The answer was simple: he was an idiot and suspicious demigod in love with a mortal. A mortal, one of so many, but at the same time so unique. She was Moana, the chosen one of the ocean and the chosen one of Maui. It couldn’t be anyone else.

She had waited two long years to have him in her arms again, to hear that affectionate and childish diminutive of her name that she had hated so much at first to leave it as a simple example of friendship between them.

They both kissed again in the moonlight as she was able to control her heartbreaking tears. Maui held her all she needed with the sensation of a burning iron in his chest: he had done that to her. He had shattered her feelings with his doubts and mistrust. He had made her unhappy with all the good intention of his heart, but she loved him. It had taken two years alone and moments of madness to realize that he was never going to fall in love with another person because there was no one like her. He had hoped to return to find her happy with a new family but it hadn’t been like that, she was alone with a scar where her heart had been and a huge and painful tattoo on her back that taught the world only one thing: that she was, she is and she would always be the wife of the demigod Maui and that when her body returned to the earth her spirit would return to him. She was his in the same way that he was hers. They belonged to each other and it didn’t matter how many years of separation there was between them as they both had the memory of the other engraved ink on their skin and, in their hands, the heart of their lover.

"I love you, Mo," he said as the only answer.

Nothing else mattered.

* * *

 

She yawned, rubbing her face as she woke up. She looked around with her eyes lost and realized that she was back at her house. She frowned, looking again to make sure. She didn’t know how she had come home after last night. Maui and she had been up late into the night, buried in each other with soft kisses, caresses and whispers of love, but at one point throughout the twilight she had fallen asleep. Her oar, wreath and ropes were back on the perch in the corner of the room. She jumped when she realized that she didn’t know what time it was and had many duties for the rest of the morning. She got dressed and ran to the port where the first group of sailors expected to be attended. Tonight she would talk to Maui again about how she was going to kick his ass if he let his _wife_ sleep alone again until the wee hours of the morning.

* * *

 

"To repair the sail you'll have to go visit the port house, we have an expert there, but it's going to take a while," she explained to a young woman, somewhat annoyed by an ugly tear in her canoe's sail.

"How long? It's not that I'm in a hurry but I have nowhere to sleep."

"You're welcome to stay in one of our tents."

"I have nothing to give you in return."

"No need, you're in need, this is a gift."

Her face lit up, but Moana lost the answer as her eyes caught the movement of a group in the distance.

"Sorry, I have to go and report something. Go to the village and ask for Tui, he will make sure you have a place to stay" she ran up the beach, with Pua at her feet, to where her mother was sitting on the trunk of a palm tree, watching the children playing in the sand.

"Hello, Moana, is something wrong?" Her smile changed at the sight of her daughter's broken face.

"What are you doing?" she asked without replying her question. Sina blinked in dismay.

"Humm taking care of the children, why?"

"Where's Maui?" This is his chore" she almost choked by the sad look of her mother.

"But, Moana, he left during the night. I thought you already knew."

"What?" she exclaimed in a broken whisper.

"His month finished three days ago. He told us he would stay for your birthday. I thought he told you. He brought you home last night, and your father and I assumed that you went away to say goodbye."

Moana didn’t hear another word. She released the oar, dropped it to the ground, and ran as hard as she could toward the cabin on the outskirts where Maui had made his home. She didn’t understand anything. Last night Maui and her had made up, had spoken of love and whispered stupid promises. They had kissed and hugged each other until their muscles screamed at the cramps to maintain their posture.

It had been weird to her that, after disappearing last night in the middle of her party, her father hadn’t been in the early hours of the morning screaming at the top of his lungs about her duties and responsibilities as head of her tribe. Instead she had slept long and peacefully without a soul disturbing her. Her parents had agreed to let her sleep and rest in order to relieve the pain of the loss, a loss she didn’t know of and had no record until now.

The stretch between the beach and the island ran up the hill. The cloak slowed her down with weight and by being caught in every bush and rock on the road. She undid the knot on the cloth and let it fall to the floor without giving thought. Nothing mattered more than to get to that house that she could almost see on the horizon. She avoided people and ignored greetings, she could only run. Run, run, jump over Hei Hei and keep running.

She came to the door with her breathing agitated and her heart pounding in her chest. She opened the tapestry and had to sit down so she would not fall when her legs failed. Neither Maui nor his magic hook were in sight.

 

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: 
> 
> I am very sorry as I have finished this chapter in this point, for those who want to know about Maui I will leave you a spoiler below. I had to cut it here because if not, it would have to be exceedingly long to clarify everything. It was a rather distressing moment.
> 
> I hope that the first part wasn’t very chaotic, if you don't understand it, I will write again. I wanted to make it so chaotic because I wanted to express a little of Maui's feelings at that moment, he's lost, hurt and desperate. But I don’t know if taking that into writing has been risky, tell me, please!
> 
> **Fanart**  
> [ "Maui lost his heart"](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/post/163269110946/maui-lost-his-heart-fanart-for-fire-and-dust#notes) by [MagicFishHook](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com)
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> **Explanation of content:**
> 
> -Carnivorous birds, [“frigatebirds”](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Male_Frigate_bird.jpg), are those that appear in the film when Moana is small. Those who try to eat the turtle.
> 
> -Kaikea is a real character of the app game; Moana Island Life, her story is canon.
> 
>  
> 
> **Spoiler**
> 
> Maui is not gone, it's been a misunderstanding.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I'm very sorry for the delay but after 10 chapters of silly looks, fights, a lot of sexual tension and 105,667 words (yay!), I thought it was time to dedicate a good chapter to the relationship between them. That means that this chapter is purely about them and how their relationship begins. It will be extended to the next but in Chapter 12 there will be something more for the final plot.  
> I hope you like it and many thanks for the comments and support!
> 
> ***THIS CHAPTER HAS A NSFW FANART***

Maui’s hut was simple. It was a single room that he had decorated himself with all the gifts and presents that the members of the tribe had given him. Every corner of the wall was covered with scrolls with charcoal drawings. The quality of the drawings and themes showed that they were the gifts from his school children. There were canoes, village houses, people, in many of them Maui was accompanying the children with some other friend or their parents and, surprisingly, in more than one was Maui, Moana and Pua at their feet. These had a preferential place on the wall, making them more visible and highlighting them from the rest. There were also necklaces of shells, stones, and dried flowers as if each section of wall had been dedicated to creating an album of memories of members and friends on the island. On one of the walls was a small basket with several types of fruit and an amphora that had contained water during the last days. There was no more furniture than that apart from a bed of wrinkled blankets in the middle of the small room where Maui had slept during his stay. It was so tiny that she didn’t know how he had managed to move inside.

But that didn’t matter anymore, did it?

Moana let out a sob and leaned forward. She knew she had to leave, but she couldn’t move. Maui's salty, marine scent was in every corner making her skin burn out of need, and all the drawings and little details and decorations around her, were the only evidence she had that the demigod had actually come back and been there with her, that he hadn’t been a dream, that his lips were really on hers last night, and the sweetest words were whispered around her neck when those strong arms surrounded her. She knew that Maui had done what he had been asked to do, and that it was her that had to call him if she wanted to see him, ask for explanations. But why could he do something as horrible as disappear after promising her the world? Why leave her behind again with a last kiss on her lips?

She leaned forward with her arms around her and rested her forehead on the pile of blankets. Her shoulders shook with tears, the pain in her chest was more than she could take. It was bitter, scaly and left a bittersweet taste on her tongue. That feeling wasn’t new to her, it was the same one she had two years ago when Maui disappeared. She had spent days crying, squeezing her heart out of the last salty drop she had left so she could raise her head and do her work without her hand trembling. Her people needed a leader, not a disconsolate young woman who couldn’t even decide her own mate or her own future. She tightened her arms tightly trying to control her crying, she had to be strong, she had to overcome this, she had a duty to her people. She couldn’t let something as bland as her feelings dominate her mind.

The light entered the cabin door suddenly as the loom was drawn aside and she was momentarily blinded.

"Mo?" Asked a voice she would recognize anywhere. Moana blinked to get accustomed to the light and saw the figure of Maui in the door with half his body inside. A huge basket held above his head and the hook in his other hand. Pua, at his feet, looked at her with a proud head, and turned to fly between the legs of the astonished demigod.

"Maui," Moana sobbed. Maui dropped the basket to one side, took a couple of long strides kneeling at the last second to reach her and hugged her in despair. "I thought that you were gone. I thought..."

"How was I to go? Who told you that?" He asked against her hair, caressing her warmly.

"My mother was taking care of the class, said you went away during the night." Maui snorted and parted to look into her eyes.

"I went to pick up a few things for you," he said with a sad smile. "I know that my month of stay is over but I thought with these presents you could let it continue."

Moana shook her head.

"You didn’t have to bring anything, I wasn’t going to let you go." Maui gave her a bright smile and bent to kiss her. Moana moaned in the kiss with her arms around his neck. They let go after a few seconds to look into each other's eyes. She smiled when she saw a little paint on his temple from the night before and wiped it with her hand, Maui took the touch to kiss her wrist.

"Aren’t you going to see what I brought you?" He asked, raising his eyebrows and looking at her with a smile.

"I really like what you're doing." Maui rolled his eyes and pulled away, pulling the basket in with one hand.

He let her remove the lianas that held the cover of leaves that had kept the contents safe during their air transportation. Once out, Moana opened her eyes in surprise at the multitude of different colors she saw. There were thousands of bright red, blue, and yellow feathers with a few large pink feathers.

"Where did you get this?" She asked, picking up one of the blue feathers to bring it to her face and see how it glowed in metallic green tones.

"On some islands there are exotic birds. They were not happy to see me," he said with a shrug.

"Did you rip them out of them?" she exclaimed with annoyance.

"Nah, they were on the ground and in some others were in nests. Some are mine."

"Yours?"

"Yeah, when I became a bird, I took off a few feathers. I only endured a couple of jerks. It’s quite painful."

"Thank you, Maui." Her smile paid off.

Or maybe not...

"Look at the bottom," he urged. Moana reached in and scrabbled with concentration. She found oysters, rocks and nacre shells of various colors that she was scattering around but Maui kept urging her to keep looking. She exclaimed happily when she found something and pulled out a heavy bag made from leaves tied with ropes. She looked at Maui for confirmation and, when she received it, she slid the strings to open it.

Crowds of pearls peered through the hollow of the leaves. She gasped at the tiny blue, pink, and white nacelle balls. She knew the whites, she herself had found them with her companions on the beach, but roses and blues?

"Where did you find these? You painted them?" Maui laughed.

"On some islands the minerals of the water make oysters change the color of their pearls."

Moana nodded in silence, taking a pinch to see them in her open palm. She turned them with her thumb and left them in place, closed the bag and looked at Maui with a silent question. He knew her well enough to know what she was thinking.

"You told me that your ceremonial clothes were small, but you didn’t have the resources to make a new one. With this I am sure they will be able to do something worthy of the head of Motunui." Moana let out a sigh, closing her eyes in the warmth that filled her. Having someone to take notice of the details, however small, made her feel happy. Maui had traveled many miles all night and had worked searching and finding every new piece he had brought her as a gift and only because she had complained that her garments were uncomfortable.

"Thank you," she whispered, looking at him with a warm smile. Maui swallowed and came up to her, placing a hand over hers in her lap, still with the bag of pearls between her fingers.

"Mo," he began in a serious tone, "marry me."

Moana's eyes widened in surprise, and her fingers slipped, causing the bag to fall and a multitude of pearls to roll on the floor. Neither of them made a gesture of catching them and they stood still looking each other in the eyes. She was the first to react with a half-shy smile.

"After two years without seeing you, and that's the first thing you ask me?" She gave a soft laugh. "We're already married, idiot." Maui shook his head and stroked her hands with his thumbs.

"I don’t want a fake marriage, I want a real one. I don’t want that in the future, when we are both together, we look back and remember that we are married because we were forced to do so."

Moana looked at him, her chest full of emotions. Maui, the one who was the most worried had been about a nefarious future between them, was the one who was now looking at one where both were together, happy and had a legendary love story. Moana knew that everything wasn’t going to be easy. They had ways of being very diverse and would sometimes argue, but that didn’t mean that they couldn’t love each other. She sat up on her knees to rise to his height and framed his cheeks with her hands.

"Maui, we're already married. It wasn’t the wedding of my dreams but I'm more than happy with how we are now. We didn't start well but I wouldn’t change anything that we have experienced. Like you said ‘ _we have to look back to know how to move forward_ ’. You are my husband in the eyes of the whole world and, more importantly, you are my husband on my eyes. I didn’t like it at first but I wouldn’t change it now for anything" she watched as Maui's face slowly turned into a mask of emotions and swallowed by the stinging of his feelings. Then she smiled and gave a quick kiss on his nose before pulling away. "Although you still owe me a wedding night. One worthy of the head of a tribe."

She almost laughed when Maui let out a seductive purr. She wanted to exploit the joke more and twisted her hair dramatically.

"Besides, I don’t think that having a husband suits me. I prefer to have a lover in each port."

"I would stop if I were you before they knew me as Maui, shapeshifter, demigod who sank all the islands back into the ocean," he snarled, leaving the joke aside.

"Are you jealous?" She asked, blinking in surprise.

"Don’t talk nonsense," he snapped. "In these two years you could do what you wanted, had nothing to do with me."

She avoided his gaze for a moment and then looked him in the eye again.

"I kissed someone." Maui looked at her with a frown, his eyes filled with fury. She raised her hand to avoid a misunderstanding. "I kissed someone because I wanted to prove a point. We both stayed in that it had been stupid and a mistake. Besides, he was already in love with someone else."

"I'm going to kill Siaki," he growled under his breath. Moana smiled and shook her head.

"How do you know I'm talking about him?"

"Intuition," he murmured. Moana decided to go on before Maui fulfill his threat.

"I wanted to know if you were really right and I could fall in love with someone else." She shrugged. "It didn’t work. In two years I've been alone, I haven’t felt interest for anyone. It just didn’t happen. I don’t have time to date or think about couple things or children. I have to take care of my people and that is above everything." She looked away, "or almost everything. What I have felt for you, what I feel for you," she rectified, "I have never felt for anyone." She looked into his eyes again. "If you want to get married again, let's get married. Inside, I know that you are the only one in my life. False marriage, true or not marriage, is not important. You have accepted my feelings and you have trusted me enough to open to me and come back. It's enough. You don’t have to give me anything else."

"On the contrary." He bent down and took her hand to kiss it. "Now I have to give you the whole world. You can ask me for what you want, I will do everything in my power to give it to you."

Moana laughed and walked over to kiss him. They shared a warm kiss full of promises and soft words.

"For now I have only two missions for you, or three, depends on how you look at it."

"I'm at your command, chief." She smirked.

"The first thing is to help me carry the basket to the house of the seams." Maui nodded decisively.

"Very easy."

"And the second thing is that you get all your things out of here." She pulled away, picking up the pearls from the floor and putting them back in the bag. Maui was frowning at her, not knowing what she meant. She continued. "I want you to get all your stuff from here and take it to my house. I can’t live apart from my husband any longer."

"I like that more," he said with a wolfish smile.

"I'm glad, you have two years to make up for and I don’t think I'm going to be home very late." She stood up and went to the door. Maui swallowed the implied words and accompanied her, with the basket above his head with one hand, leaving the hook to be able to have a free hand for her.

When they left, the village turned and saw them. Many of them had been there the night of their union, and rumors and murmurs soon spread when Maui disappeared for so long. Now they were together again and, apparently, happier than ever. Moana was holding her head high despite the lack of her flower headband, oar and red cape, objects that had become characteristic of her in recent years. Instead of them, she was holding a sturdy demigod with a stupid smile on his face. They left the basket in the house of the seams and went back to the beach.

Sina was still there with her face in a grimace of constant concern with the oar in her hands, sitting on the trunk of a palm tree while still watching the children playing on the beach. When she saw them, she rose to her feet with a gasp and her eyes widened in surprise.

The children recognized their huge teacher and ran toward him, leaping into his arms. Maui picked them up on the fly, letting them climb up his back and arms.

"Good news, I hope," Sina said with a radiant smile at the sight of her daughter's happy face.

“A lot. Maui stays” Sina looked at her in surprise and turned to Maui but he was too busy with the children to get into the conversation.

"I'm so happy for you." Moana hugged her mother warmly. Sina smiled at her, tucked her hair behind her ear and held out her oar.

"Are you going to stay?" they heard the children ask. They both looked at the group again.

"I can’t," he replied. There was a general groan. "Okay, okay, today you have to stay with Sina. Tomorrow I will be with you and the day after tomorrow your teacher will return".

There was a mixture of cheers and complaints. They loved their teacher a lot, but she sometimes had a bad mood. "I'll miss you too."

Everyone nodded. In that, Moana realized something: Arona was returning in three days and Maui had to be reassigned to a new task. Something that she had to discuss with her parents and the demigod himself, since she wasn’t sure what would be a good job for him.

"Why don’t you stay today?" Kaiwi demanded.

"Because I'll be moving all day," murmurs and sobs soon arrived. Maui raised a hands to silence them. "No, no, you misunderstood me. I'm not leaving, chief Moana thinks I've passed the test period and I can stay. I move out to a new house. You can continue coming to see me whenever you want."

"Where are you going to live?"

"With the chief, of course," they all opened their mouths in surprise. They were too young to remember that Maui and Moana were actually married. "What? I am Maui the shapeshifter, demigod of the wind and the sea, hero of all; I have the right to live with the head of the tribe, right?"

There was a general _yes_ and Maui placed his hands on his hips, raising his head in a thoughtful way. Moana approached him and hit him softly with the oar.

"Lord of the waves, I have to go. Do you know where I live?"

"You know I do," he'd watched her from afar for the entire month. Not that he was going to say it out loud. Every morning he woke up early to watch her march toward the harbor. Even in the earliest moments of dawn she had been perfect with her diadem of flowers and her beautiful mane in the wind. Since he hadn’t been able to approach her during his stay, the only relief he had found was to see her in the distance. Unreachable but glorious.

"I'll wait for you there tonight, I'll be busy at the harbor." She put a hand on his collar of fangs and gave a slight tug. Maui caught the hint and bent over for a quick kiss.

All the children shouted, mixed between happy and disgusted. Maui had wrapped a hand around her waist and took a few seconds to let her go. Moana said good-bye, laughing, and walked down the beach. Maui watched her leave with a stupid smile on his face and mini Maui waving with his hand on his chest. Seeing he was being watched by his class and the mother, he turned to them with a nervous giggle.

"Maui and Moana kiss under a palm tree" the children began to sing in a chorus. "Maui and Moana kiss each other under a palm tree!"

"Eh, eh! Enough! I'm a demigod!" the children scattered each one running to one side without stopping singing. Kaiwi approached him with a frown, quite annoyed.

"It's not fair! I am your girlfriend, you have to kiss me too!"

Maui blinked confused, looked at Sina sideways and crouched.

"Of course yes. But I can’t give you a normal kiss, I have to give you a demigod kiss." He bent and kissed her nose gently. Kaiwi shouted happily and ran off with the rest of her teammates. Before he realized, he was alone with Sina.

"I should welcome you, then," she said with a warm smile that turned to a stern grin. "But if you make my daughter cry again you will not have enough ocean to hide."

Maui stood petrified with his mouth open and speechless. Sina smiled again and went to look for her pupils. Maui lowered his gaze to mini Maui and he returned it with a grimace of pure terror.

It was terrifying how much Moana resembled her mother.

 

* * *

 

Maui stood in front of the lighted cabin and had been standing there for a long time. He had spent the day taking his things to Moana’s hut and putting them in a corner so as not to disturb. After all, he still didn't know his place in that house.

Once he had finished, he decided to go out to help the members of his now tribe and the night had fallen without him realizing it. He approached the corner of the beach where they used to meet and dance at night and wasn’t surprised to see that Moana wasn’t there. She would be at home waiting for him. They wouldn't spend another night in the dark, dancing or talking in whispers, hiding their faces in the dark cloak of the stars and would say goodbye in uncomfortable words with hidden meanings and desires, no, now they would be in the same cabin, talk and kiss and love and under the light of a torch and they would sleep side by side. There would be no more parting words, no more indiscreet whispers. They would sleep and wake up next to each other for as long as she wanted to have him.

He didn’t know why he was so nervous. His hands were sweating at his sides and he had lost count of how many times he had made a decision, stepped forward, changed his mind, and stepped back. He knew that when he opened the loom of the door his new life began. A life with something he'd always wanted: a partner. A woman who loved him. But what if it had all been a dream? Was this really what Moana wanted? Was she waiting for him?

He felt a tightness in his chest and looked at Mini Maui in bewilderment. He stamped on the floor and pointed to the door with both hands in an obfuscated gesture. It was obvious what he meant to say, ' _Go in now._ ' Maui snorted.

"It's easy for you to say," Mini Maui's only response was to turn into a chicken and taunt him with his tongue. "Hey! I'm not a chicken. I'm not afraid, I can come in whenever I want."

The hen tattoo was transformed back into him and leaned against the ink-frame, signaling the door with a thoughtful smile.

"I just don’t want to now." Mini Maui folded his arms in front of his chest. He sighed and shrugged. "What if she had changed her mind?" Mini Maui relaxed and shook his head before pointing at Mini Moana's tattoo. He was right. She was Moana. He drew in air and walked steadily toward the door. When he got to the loom he clenched his jaw and opened it to peer inside. All the air left his lungs as he saw the room. He came in with his mouth open and his eyes wide, allowing the tapestry to close after him without looking away from the walls. This cabin was much bigger than his. On one side was the wardrobe with Moana's clothes and a pair of baskets, amphoras and coffers. There were several tapestry scattered with monsters and spirits, another was of a black demon tattooed, with a maleficent smile that instantly knew it was himself. But none of that had caught his attention as much as all his drawings scattered on the wall in front of the door and his hook in a corner as it had always been there. Out of respect for his hostess, he had left his stuff aside so as not to disturb her but in his absence she had taken them and distributed them throughout the place in a clear demonstration that this wasn’t her house anymore; It was theirs.

Moana was sitting on her bed, with her back to him and her head down. Her long mane was pulled to one side and Maui was able to get a full view of her winged tattoo. Mini Maui was encouraged at that time and made a gesture believed to be a ' _I told you_ '. He grimaced and pointed at him menacingly, and he went quiet again. He took a couple of silent steps and knelt behind her, leaning down to kiss her naked nape. Moana shook in a chill and looked back over her shoulder. Her dark eyes lit up with surprise and the relief of seeing him there.

"Hello," she whispered. Maui smiled and moved closer, sitting behind her to surround her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Hi," he said, "love what you’ve done with the place."

"I thought you'd like a little more homey."

"It is perfect. You didn’t have to." She smiled and leaned back against his chest.

With that change of position Maui could see what she had in her hands, and was surprised to see his worn and yellow mini hook.

"You still have it." Moana looked lost for a few moments before glancing down at her hands. She caressed the bone with her thumb, enjoying the texture of the prints against her skin.

"I could never get rid of it," she admitted.

"Hold it close, it'll protect you." She smiled, clutching her little treasure in her fingers.

"I always carry it with me."

Maui went to ask where, he had never seen it on her. Then she put her hands on the chest and put it in her pendant, closing the shell. He tightened his grip on her waist and kissed her shoulder.

"I've been thinking," She pulled away to turn and kneel in front of him with her hands on his chest, "about last night."

Maui frowned and his heart fluttered in fear, would she regret it?

"If I had said no, if I had rejected you," she specified, "you would have gone, would you have not?"

His first words were a denial but the impassive look on her face prevented him from speaking. Finally he nodded gently.

"I was ready to go. I just wanted..." he closed his mouth and made a gesture of pain. He'd only wanted one last kiss. He had been selfish, he knew, but he needed to kiss her and tell her one last time how much he loved her. He hadn’t been prepared for anything except his touch on her skin. What was going to come out after that was going to be an unknown, both feared and wanted.

"Have you forgotten your doubts?" She asked softly. Maui shook his head.

"No, I'll always have doubts. I'm going to ask myself every morning of my life what you are doing with me and if you deserve better." He looked into her eyes with a sad smile. "But I believe you and I have made peace with that."

"Do you believe me when I tell you that I love you?" she whispered.

"That's the only thing that keeps me sane," and he was totally sure of that. Moana was the only thing that kept him from the madness in which his life had become during the years of separation. She lowered her gaze slightly flushed by the sincere answer. Maui had his doubts, doubts brought from thousands of years of bad decisions and painful outcomes, was not something that she was going to be able to remedy in a mortal life. But the time she had she was going to make the most of it.

Slowly her hands came down his chest, affectionately stroking Mini Maui and Mini Moana and stopped on the rope that joined his skirt of leaves. They both shared a cautious look. Maui swallowed and gave an almost invisible nod.

She traced the rope with two trembling fingers and reached the knot she had seen him so many times undo when they had bathed together. Maui made no move, neither to stop her nor to undress her. This moment was for her, she was the one in charge.

The liana slid easily, dropping the leaves, shells, stones, mat and knife inside. He listened as she swallowed nervously and smiled helping her pull everything away from his lap and could thus be naked in front of her eyes. He had been before while playing together as friends but never as lovers, not in this kind of situation.

Moana stared into his lap with some reticence. He was big, he knew, they had sung stories about his manhood and carved a multitude of totems in his honor, for someone as inexperienced as she, it was impressive. She timidly put her hands to his thighs and looked up, not quite sure what to do, as she did many years ago when he taught her to sail. He smiled halfway and leaned back a little to show a more relaxed attitude to help her relax.

"I don’t know..." she began.

"Hold it," he said. Moana obeyed holding the base of his flaccid limb with one hand and looked at him again for a next indication. "Move the hand up and down," she obeyed. "Yes, good, raise the hand a little. Perfect."

Moana brought her hand closer to the tip and began the swaying movement awkwardly, exposing his glans. Her hand was unable to cover the full length. Maui swallowed, noticing how he grew warmer and hotter. She looked at him in surprise.

"It's getting hard," she whispered. He snorted between pleasurable and humorous.

"If it wasn’t hard, it wouldn’t have much use." He winced and held her hand for a better rhythm. "Don’t pull the skin too much, it is painful."

"I'm sorry." She looked at him again. "Many children in the village don’t have this, are they some demigod’s thing?"

Maui wished he could tell her that he had no interest at this time in talking about the children of the village but, instead, he answered her question.

"The parents usually cut it when they are babies on many islands." At the look of surprise and doubt on her face, he continued, "You don’t do it if you don’t intend to keep the child."

Moana looked down. She understood that Maui still had it because his parents hadn’t bothered to raise him.

She pushed her hand away, causing him to stifle a groan of loss as he found himself unbearably hard. She ignored him and started unbuttoning her own clothes. Maui leaned over to help her, leaving the feather fabric aside so they wouldn't get in their way.

By the gods, she was even more beautiful than he remembered. Not even in his dreams had her skin shone that way beneath the fire of the little torches. She was embarrassed a little by his continued observation and he kissed her to help her calm down.

"Are we going to do it tonight?" She asked, self-conscious.

"No, tonight it's just for us to get acquainted." He stroked her cheek and stiffened his tongue. "Besides, I'm too big. We would have to take our time."

"Will it hurt?" He discontinued mocking grimace and looked at her affectionately, trying to relax her.

"Not today. And if you don’t want it will not hurt at all. There is no need for penetration, there are a lot of things we can do." Moana blushed suddenly.

"Like that thing you did with your mouth last time?" She asked in a low voice. Maui's eyes widened in surprise. He didn’t know if she was going to remember it and Moana had never mentioned that night before. He'd assumed that having been her first sexual experience -apart from the first masturbation on the lake- she'd been too embarrassed to talk about it.

"That's one of the things," he admitted with a smile. He didn’t miss the quick glance she threw into his lap.

"Do you like it too?" Mauri had to restrain a groan as his member contracted at the mention of a blow job. Had been a millennia since his last human contact and just think of that mouth around him made his blood burn.

"By the gods, woman, give me a break." She let out a lazy laugh and with a little more bravado leaned into his lap. Maui reacted quickly by grabbing her chin to steer her away from him. "That is not for today. Believe me it is better to do it after a bath and not after a tiring day in that loincloth."

She blinked a couple of times and swallowed.

"So, what do we do now?"

"Now that's when we stop talking." Before Moana could open her mouth to add anything else, he flung himself at her lips in a hungry kiss.

He laid her down next to him, resting her head on his arm and wrapping around her waist with the other as he kept kissing her. Moana responded with a gasp for the skin-to-skin contact.

Maui trailed his side with a warm touch and down her thighs.

" _Sharkhead_ , remember," he whispered against her lips. He waited for an affirmation of her and continued kissing her, entering two digits in her valley of curls. Moana moaned in their kiss, opening her legs to give him better access and imitated him holding in her hands his remarkable erection. They trembled over the nervousness and the growing pleasure in her stomach from the touch of the demigod, but she made no move to depart and began a firm and sure movement on his erection.

Maui's fingers played with the entrance, collecting fluids so he could then rub her clit gently. Even his digits were too big for that narrow space.

They joined their mouths in a desperate kiss, letting their tongues play in each other's mouth, bit their lips and shared gasps and groans until Moana's legs began to shake from her impending orgasm.

She looked at him with need and he looked at her expectantly, his gaze locked with hers. Moana began to tense until it exploded like a spring and gave a muffled sob, closing her eyes and letting her body shake with the pleasure of her climax. Maui had never seen such a beautiful thing. He had given her orgasms before, but he had never been so close to see her face when she gave in to pleasure and her conscience was shaken by the sensations that her body offered. Her cheeks were red and her swollen, furious lips parted in a moan.

Moana's eyes widened with pleasure, and he thrust them into hers. Maui smiled and kissed her forehead gently caressing her hip above her tattoos.

"Are you fine?" he asked in a quiet whisper, she returned a sleepy smile. Then she looked down at the semi-erection still between her fingers. "Don’t worry about it. It will come down alone."

She ran her thumb over the frenulum, making him stifle a groan.

"That's dirty play," he growled with a narrowed eye.

"I want to help you," she said, giving him a couple of long, slow jolts.

This woman was really a demon.

"First let me look for something." He looked up, letting his curls cascade down his shoulders.

"What are you looking for?"

"Something to avoid a disaster." Moana raised an eyebrow, not knowing what he meant. Finally, Maui took the cover from the bed and placed it between them.

"For what?"

"You'll understand," he paused for a moment, "do you still want to help me?"

As the only response, Moana grabbed his erection again, giving him a small, determined squeeze. Maui couldn’t help but laugh before leaning toward her to kiss her as he encircled her hand to give it a propitious rhythm. Moana continued the kiss by giving him a small bite on the lower lip and then playing with his mouth causing him to moan over the play of sensations in his body. She broke the kiss and looked down to see the hard demigod member appear and disappear between their joined hands. The glans was fully exposed with a strong purplish color, already emitting the first fluids that lubricated their hands, improving the friction.

Maui sighed, catching her attention and Moana looked up. He felt her eyes upon him and he half opened his eyes to look at her and she leaned over to kiss him. Their mouths joined, letting their tongues play in a battle to conquer the mouth of the other. Suddenly, Maui snorted from his nose and cut off the kiss, whispering inches from her lips.

"I'm close." His voice was hoarse and dry, making a chill run down Moana's back at the sound. Unconsciously she tightened her hold on his hard erection, making him grunt. He hadn’t done this for so many years, so many years. Maui responded to the squeeze by doing the same and his movements became more erratic and furious.

With one last shake and a hoarse gasp, he tensed, leaning forward to rest his head against hers and hold himself as his orgasm made him shudder.

Moana's eyes widened in surprise. She had never believed that Maui could make that face or make that kind of sound.

The erection trembled in her hand and soon she noticed a thick, hot liquid spurt out. She looked down in surprise to see more and more whitish liquid emanating from him in long, dense pearly jets. She didn’t move her hand until he did, letting him guide her in the last slow-moving movements after his orgasm. Maui let go of her with a moan and rolled on his back with his breath fully shaken and the erection softening against his thigh, leaving a last run of his seed on the tattooed skin.

Moana raised her hand, curious, and lifted her fingers away from the small nets of sticky fluid that had covered it. Maui looked at her out of the corner of his eye, still breathing heavily, and was surprised to see Moana bring a couple of fingers to her lips and her tongue gave a little lick. The woman’s unpleasant grimace didn’t catch him by surprise and he gave a funny snort, turning to her.

"Ugh, it doesn’t taste like milk," she said, still wincing.

"It's not milk; it’s semen" Maui wiped her spotted lower lip with his thumb and brought it to his mouth at Moana's stunned look. He smiled at her in response, winking at her "it's an acquired taste."

He looked down and muttered under his breath. The cloth was completely covered with dark patches of his seed and part had also fallen on their bodies. Moana seemed to see it too, for she gasped with astonishment.

"Has been a long time," he apologized, his voice still deep.

He got up enough to pull the cloth out from under them and cleaned them thoroughly, taking utmost care not to leave a single drop in her hand. Once clean, he threw it over his shoulder, wrapped around her waist and pulled her toward him.

"What do you think?" He asked, caressing her waist with his thumb.

"That we have to repeat it," she replied directly. He laughed.

"Leave me until tomorrow, I am a demigod but by the gods I wouldn’t get another erection today, even if my life depended on it."

Moana smiled and looked down at his lap where his sleepy erection lay surrounded by dark curls. She grasped it gently with her hand, noting how the sticky surface was getting softer and softer between her fingers. Still limp, he was still quite large.

"It only gets hard when I'm excited," he replied to her mute question.

"Does it hurt?"

"Only when I'm very, _very_ excited." She nodded and lowered her hand to his testicles. He stiffened. "Be careful with that," he warned. "They are very sensitive. Maybe the main reason I wear loincloths."

She pulled her hand away as if it burned and gave him an apologetic look.

"I am sorry."

"It’s okay." His voice began to soften, then he yawned. "Did you like it?"

"A lot," she admitted with a half smile.

"Do you have questions?" There was a short thoughtful silence.

"Some."

"They can wait. I think we should sleep, I don’t know what time it is but it's too late."

"All right." She got close to him and shrugged for Maui to wrap his arm around her. "Don’t let me wake up too late tomorrow."

"Don’t worry. Rest." Breathing in air, he let out a loud snort that extinguished the torch by the door, leaving them in the dark.

"Good night," Moana whispered, taking a long breath to catch the sea-like essence of his body. Maui smiled and stroked her hair affectionately.

"Good night, Mo."

"Maui?"

"Hm?"

"Thank you," came the murmur seconds later. He pulled her closer to him in a desperate gesture. It was he who should thank her on his knees for accepting him again in her life, for giving him tonight and for allowing him to live in her presence.

"Thanks to _you_."

Moana closed her eyes and squeezed against his chest with a sigh of relief. Two years. Two years sleeping in an empty bed in an empty house after being accustomed to being surrounded with those arms every night. Now, like so many other times, she seemed to be in a dream in which Maui returned and fell asleep together as in the past. She had longed for every part of her soul to those arms that cradled her, and now that they were there, she could hardly believe it. His essence was in her house and was sneaking through every pore of her skin. Maui was back with her, was at home and in her bed for the first time in years. Their hearts beating as one.

 

* * *

 

Moana frowned annoyed at a constant sound. Her eyes narrowed and she saw the silhouette of Maui asleep beside her. She blinked a couple of times without knowing very well what was going on until the memories of the night before came to her mind. She smiled and leaned forward, enjoying the warmth and musky scent of his body. At the sudden movement, Maui stopped snoring and looked back at her, asleep.

"Good morning, did I wake you?" Maui blinked and without a word rolled over to her, still asleep, and pulled her into his arms in an almost desperate movement. "Maui!" she complained, "you're crushing me."

The demigod seemed to react, for he pulled away and looked at her with a little more consciousness.

"Good morning," he murmured, rubbing his face to wake up. She chuckled.

"Still asleep?"

"I hadn’t slept like that in years," he admitted with a timid smile. "I thought you were a dream." Moana moved closer to him and Maui wrapped her in a warm embrace.

"I don’t want to leave the house," she said in her warm cocoon.

"We still have time." He kissed her forehead, sucking the scent of her hair. Moana moaned with pleasure, rubbing her naked body against his. Maui stroked her side down to her buttocks and grabbed one, giving it a small but strong squeeze.

"Hey," she complained with a lazy laugh.

"Mine," he growled, his voice hoarse from sleep.

"You're a possessive idiot." She slapped his chest and sat up. It wasn’t too late but not early enough they could afford to go back to sleep. She had to get dressed and get ready for the day.

She looked with a smile at all the drawings on the wall. She had always had her house decorated with all the tapestries that once belonged to her grandmother. The old Maui tapestry had a prominent place on the wall, but everything around it was full of dirty parchments with children's paintings. She could barely make out what they were, though she could recognize the figure of the demigod surrounded by little characters in something like a dance. A chill ran down her spine as one hand carefully traced the outer edge of her winged tattoo. She looked over her shoulder and smiled as he watched her with infinite tenderness, much more awake.

"You are beautiful," were the first words that came out of his lips. Moana blushed and leaned back, letting him pick her up.

"I just woke up and my hair is a mess," she said with a half smile, blowing a strand of hair that had fallen on her face.

"As I said; Beautiful." She shook her head and held the hands around her. Then she felt a pressure at her side and was surprised to see the rising excitement of the demigod.

"Are you excited?"

"It's a morning erection. Ignore it, it'll go off." Moana grabbed it and gave it a couple of slow movements.

"How do it get to go off?" She asked curiously. Maui muttered under his breath.

"Not like that." Moana snorted at the joke.

"It's a serious question. You told me I could ask you."

"Regularly over time. You can help with a cold bath." Moana frowned as she remembered something.

"When we kissed in the canoe and you were going to take a bath..." Maui moaned frowning without answering that question.

"In my defense I would say that I had a very, very attractive young woman on my lap trying to pry my lip out with her teeth," he complained in embarrassment.

"So I was exciting you?" she asked, moving her hand in a slow but steady swing.

"Sometimes it thinks for itself," he defended himself. Moana changed her posture, forcing him to lie on his back as she positioned herself on her knees between his legs. "We don’t have time for this," he growled under his breath.

"I'm the chief, I have all the time in the world." She looked at him with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

Maui grunted again.

"Stop complaining." She struck his thigh with her free hand.

"What do you want to do? Because leaving me with an erection for the rest of the day is very cruel." He lifted his head to look at her with eyes darkened with desire.

"I don’t mean to let you go like this. I want to practice what you taught me yesterday."

"A very apt pupil." He jerked the head back with a hiss as Moana slid his limb exquisitely with a strong squeeze. "Moana, if you're going to continue this..." he swallowed. "Take something to clean up afterwards."

She obeyed, bending over to grab the same cloth they used the night before. She didn’t miss the funny snort he released.

"We're going to have to burn that."

"Don’t exaggerate."

Moana continued with her work, watching as the glans appeared and disappeared slowly. Maui was large, so large that she wasn’t able to wrap her hand around _him_. She could see perfectly the dark veins that made it turn purple that looked quite painful. She looked up as she grabbed his testicles with her other hand. Maui let out a gasp and swallowed.

"Does it hurt?" He shook his head.

"If you are careful it can be quite pleasant" that was all the answer that she needed. Moana smiled and stroked the velvety surface that barely fit in her hand.

"Is this what you put inside?" He groaned.

"Are we _really_ going to start the question and answer session now?"

"I need to know if we're going to do it." The member in her hand contracted and Maui gave another whimper of pleasure.

"I don’t know what I've done to deserve this torture," he grunted in a pitiful tone, and she let out a laugh.

"If you answered it would end sooner,"

Maui exclaimed between clenched teeth.

Moana's hands were too small compared to his own, something significantly remarkable in this work. Her touch was first-timer and inexperienced, slow and tentative. But it's still the most exquisite thing he’d have felt in centuries. He opened his mouth to respond but only a gasp of pleasure came out of how she had passed deliciously close to his frenulum. He swallowed hard and tried again.

"Yes." He swallowed again.

"It’s not too big?" they were really going to have a long, deep talk about bed conversations when his brain came back to earth.

"I am a demigod, we are bigger than mortals." He clenched his fists at his sides when a rush of pleasure came through one of her touches.

"And we will be able...?" she didn’t finish the question. It wasn’t necessary. Maui let out a half-sobbing snarl and sat up on his elbows to look at her.

"Before I tell you, I’ll say that I'm going to take revenge for what you're doing to me." He raised his hand to silence her when she was about to interrupt him. "But yes, we could be able. It takes time and something to help with lubrication. It is painful. Most of all the first time. Particularly with me, it would be the first few times, until you got used to it." He made a gesture with the head to his erection. “Because of the size. No, it is not necessary. The penetration is pleasant but there are millions of things we can do. There are many previous games that mortals omit but I find quite satisfactory and more when penetration, in my case, may be difficult in some cases, happy?"

He stared desperately into her eyes with his shoulders trembling with tension and pleasure. Moana gave him an indulgent half smile, watching the sweat trickle down his temple from the tension of the situation.

"A lot."

"Then, please, faster and squeeze more or I'll go crazy."

Moana let out a snort and increased her speed, making Maui lie back with a grateful gasp. She took advantage of the moment of vulnerability to look at details that went unnoticed during the day; As he clenched his jaw, as a small tic appeared in his left fist and his breathing became more and more erratic at times. She looked down at the tattoos on his thighs. His hips were tattooed and the ink was down to his ankles including intricate motifs on the inner thighs. Only the part of his pelvis was tattoo-free and covered with dark curls framing his throbbing erection. The glans was moist and purplish with a clear, musky liquid emanating continuously as her hand rose and fell, pulling out strangled growls of pleasure.

"Moana," he gasped with a shudder. She looked up and saw Maui looking at her in need. There was no need to add anything else, his dark eyes wide with desire left no room for doubt: he was close.

She tightened her grip on the circumference and increased her pace from time to time stroking the frenulum with the thumb.

"Mo...." He moaned again as a last warning. She smiled and increased the speed of her touch even more. Maui grumbled between his teeth and threw his head back with a last grunt. His limb tightened and thick whitish liquid gushed out over his hot body. Moana watched in amazement at the amount of semen coming out, but continued her slow caress a few more seconds until Maui jerked.

She released him and rubbed her fingers feeling the sticky texture of the warm liquid. She leaned over to where she'd left the cloth and wiped it carefully. She looked up to see the sticky disaster in the body of the exhausted demigod and rubbed the cloth to pick up any seed stain on it.

She crawled toward him and bent down to kiss the corner of his mouth. Maui moaned and patted her hips lazily. Before he could recover, Moana pulled away, stood up and began to pick up the clothes that had been scattered all along the room. Maui frowned and leaned back on one elbow.

"Where are you going?" Moana grabbed her skirt and tied it.

"We have to go now."

"I'm not finished with you."

She let out a funny snort.

"Leave it for tonight."

"I don’t like to leave my wife unsatisfied," he growled, stumbling to his feet.

"I'm totally satisfied with myself." She let Maui hug her from behind and kiss her shoulder. "I owed you anyway."

"Don't talk nonsense." Moana turned in his arms and stood on tiptoe to kiss him. Maui eagerly tightened the grip on her waist. She burst out, laughing.

"Seriously, we have to go." He released her, letting her put on her feather top.

"Tonight," said the demigod.

"Tonight," she said. Maui withdrew with a last kiss and tied the ropes of his skirt around his waist to start putting the palm leaves back in place while casting timid glances at his lovely companion that made his stomach burn in anticipation of what would come at sunset.

Once they went out the door Moana bent to pick up the rag they had used to take care of their disasters.

"Leave that, Mo. I'll go clean it this afternoon when I finish the class."

"I can go and clean it now," she replied.

"You have job all day, I'll take care of this." He grabbed her hand and, grabbing his hook, they left the house.

As they passed the tapestry on the door they saw a group of heads hiding in the bushes that surrounded the cabin. Moana blinked, not knowing what was happening, but Maui smiled half-way and began to speak in a loud voice.

"You smell that?" She looked at him in confusion. "It smells like... Kids!" with a blue flash his head changed to a gray form of huge, sharp teeth. The children, who had hidden at the sight of them, came out of their hiding place screaming and ran in all directions shouting ‘ _sharkhead_ ’. Maui pursued them at a slow pace giving them advantage in their flight.

One of the girls stopped suddenly and turned around with a furious scream. Maui suddenly stopped and turned with his fins raised in terror.

"No! Warrior face!" He exclaimed, running in the opposite direction. Moana shook her head and looked down at Pua, waiting for her at the door. He gave her a look of disapproval that made her laugh.

"Good morning to you too, Pua." She turned her head and beckoned to Maui as he galloped toward her. "I have to go, I'm terrified to think how many people have already been waiting at the port."

The shark smiled showing all the teeth.

"Okay, we'll see each other tonight." Before they realized what they were doing they came up to share a farewell kiss. The sound of the kids grimacing was what alerted them and they stared at each other in surprise.

"It's the weirdest thing I've ever done in my life," Moana said, pulling away, one hand caressing her lower lip where seconds before there had been a row of pointed teeth. "Your breath smell like fish."

"I'm embarrassed to say that it's not the weirdest thing I've ever done." Maui looked away, nodding his head in earnest, causing the head of the tribe to bust into laughter and turning back into a human.

"Go away." Then she remembered something. "Oh, and Maui" she said before the demigod left. He turned with a questioning look. "Take a bath tonight before you get home.” She said suggestively.

Maui snorted angrily.

"Don’t do this to me now, I'll spend all morning surrounded by children." He gestured at the group spying on them from a distance.

"Take it easy." Maui rolled his eyes and left with a slight limp, muttering under his breath. Moana looked at Pua to indicate that they could leave and saw the pig with a funny look on his furry face. "Yeah, I know what you're thinking and you better save it. You've had your moments of fun."

Still arguing with her furry friend, she went down to the port with her mind full of ideas for the evening.

 

She was busy most of the morning. In the afternoon she enjoyed the common lunch watching Maui eat in the distance with Siaki and the rest of the children but didn’t want to join them. During the month of his stay here, she had observed him on occasions when the village had gathered for work or meals and had seen him make very good friends with the young man. Siaki had become a great friend of the tribe, and he had also become a good friend with whom she could count in most situations. He didn’t miss either the sideways glances that the demigod threw at her and the coquettish smiles when both eyes met. Even her parents, by her side now, had noticed the game between them.

Once they finished, they walked quietly toward each other until they were halfway. They made it slow but firm. With all the need of contact on their skin. Maui bent to give her a soft kiss and let her go with whispered promises on her lips and a horde of children behind who sang ridiculous songs despite his complaints. Moana watched him walk in silence without missing even a moment the relationship that the demigod had with his little students.

 

When Maui came home that night he was shaking with impatience and fear. His hair was still damp from his bath. He had hardly dried once he had left the river and his torso was completely soaked. Despite anticipation he doubted he could get an erection at that moment. It had been many centuries since he had shared a touch like the one he was about to have and he felt a pressure on his chest from fear. What if Moana disliked it? What if she got used to how he'd left her this morning? Mini Maui was the one who took control of the situation when he saw his great friend couldn’t decide to do what he had to do. He ran to his arm, grabbed one of the tattoos, and pulled it. Maui stretched out, his arm being propelled forward by the force of the grip and, before realizing, he was entering the doorway.

Moana turned her face to him at the sudden movement.

"Mo!" He shouted, biting his lower lip. "Are you home already! Good" Moana raised an eyebrow and looked at Mini Maui who gave a bored gesture pointing to the demigod with the thumb. No more words were needed, she shook her head and pointed to the ground in front of her.

"Come, sit with me, we're going to dinner," he obey slowly and accepted the coconut with shrimp that she held. Maui smiled, that was Moana's favorite food. The shrimp were his own but she liked the sweet flavor the coconut gave them.

"Thank you," he said as he picked it up. He looked up and saw the friendly smile on her face. She had wet hair on one side of her face in an ebony cascade. The lights of the torches made her skin glisten as if bathed in oils. She was so beautiful.

"Maui?" She asked, confused. He shook his head without noticing that she had been talking.

"I was distracted."

"I  see," she snorted. "I was asking how was your day."

"It was sad," he admitted, lowering his shoulders. He had had to say goodbye to his small group of students since the next day Arona was going back to school. There had been tears, hugs and screams but finally had managed to calm them all by promising that they could visit as many times as they wanted. He wasn’t going to admit that he had shed a tear.

"I understand." She bent over and put her hand in his to comfort him. Maui caressed it with his thumb, grateful for her touch.

"I have to get a new job."

"We'll talk about that tomorrow with my parents." He nodded and took a couple of bites of his dinner. He had no appetite at all and by the full coconut she had, he guessed she didn’t either. They were both too nervous and tense, he had to be able to help her to relax, by the gods, he was a demigod and was more than five thousand years old, something like a night of pleasure with the person he loved couldn’t be so complicated.

He released her hand and brought it to her cheek.

"You're beautiful." Moana blushed hard and pressed her face into his palm. "I'm serious."

"You're as nervous as me, aren't you?" He snorted. She knew him too well.

"I don’t want to fuck it up," he admitted, it was no good to lie to her.

"If it's any consolation," she began in a timid tone, "I really liked it last time. You have nothing to worry about. But I..." She swallowed. Maui knew what she was doing; She was downplaying his unfounded fear. He was grateful for her support, her words of flattery and consolation, but she was not entirely right. He was frightened that this would take its toll in the future, that she lose confidence in him or disappoint her. He would never want to disappoint her, neither as a lover, nor as a friend, nor as a husband. He wanted to be as perfect in her eyes as she was to him.

"You will do what you can do and what you can’t we would try in the future or we will not come back to it if you don’t want to talk about it. You don’t have to struggle, this is based on trust, respect and affection, not on each other's experience. It’s not a test that we can fail; Is a sample of our feelings."

The light in Moana's eyes was enough of a gift, no matter how fake those same words sounded in his head. She put her food aside and put her arms around his shoulders so she could reach him and kiss him. Maui responded to the kiss with need and didn’t get lost as Moana slipped a hand through the palm leaves of his skirt and undid the knot in a quick tug. This time, unlike the previous one, she took all the leaves decisively and left them aside to pay attention to her prize. She didn’t even take a second glance before grabbing it firmly in her hands. Maui let out a sigh; she had barely touched it and he could see that he was swelling slowly.

"You're going to have to tell me what to do," she whispered against his lips.

"For now you're doing so well." Moana bit his lip.

"You know what I mean," she complained. He rolled his eyes.

"What do you want to do today?"

"That thing with the mouth." Maui nodded and sat down to undo her top. Moana looked at him in confusion.

"It's hard to do it with the clothes on, although with that skirt of yours you could try to convince me," she reddened.

"First it's up to me to do it, the last time I fell asleep right after."

"And you think that I will be better after this? I've been without an orgasm for centuries and suddenly I'll have three in less than twenty-four hours... "Mini Maui cheered up, folded his arms and nodded. Moana pulled back a little to allow him to undo her skirt helping with the fabric and knots. Once fully naked, she knelt again between his legs and placed her hand on his chest pushing him back to lie down. Maui didn’t move and, instead, he bent to kiss her. Moana responded by opening her mouth to nibble on his lip, making him grunt under his breath. She pushed back into his chest with a little more force and this time she got the demigod to lie down on his elbows.

"What do I do now?" She asked in a confident voice. Maui looked into her eyes for a moment to make sure she meant it.

"Hold it, with both hands, hold it still," she obeyed. "Lower the skin, now lick the tip."

He watched her swallow saliva with the first thought of doubt. He opened his mouth to tell her that they didn’t have to do this when she stepped forward and gave a definite lick in the frenulum. He suppressed a shudder and focused on her.

"All good?"

Moana nodded.

"Uncommon taste but not unpleasant," she repeated the process by entertaining herself in the work and running the firm flesh with her tongue until Maui became a trembling pile in the bed.

"Mo, listen." She stared at him, still tongue-tied on his glans. Maui had to swallow a couple of times and regulate his breathing before he could speak again. "Cover your teeth with your lips and put it in your mouth."

She opened her eyes in surprise.

"The whole thing?" Maui snorted.

"No, not whole, as far as you're comfortable." Moana shot him a questioning look but opened her mouth as hard as she could and swallowed his erection carefully.

Maui gasped at the tip of his limb in that exquisite wetness even though she was barely able to introduce the glans into her cavity.

"Move your hand from top to bottom, like when you caress it. Yes, very good." Moana began a slow swing, not really knowing what she was doing. In one of the movements her head fell more than the count and the pressure of the neck made her fall back by the sudden sensation of nausea. Maui was immediately there whispering words of apology and comfort.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she said with a grin, swallowing. "I'm sorry, I didn’t expect it."

"Okay, you were doing a good job, you don’t have to force it." She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

"I was trying to see how deep I could take it."

"You don’t have to do that." He stroked her back. "I'm too big, you were doing great."

"I didn’t even know what I was doing." Maui thought for a few seconds and grabbed her hand. Carefully, her gaze lingering on his eyes, he placed two of her fingers in his mouth and sucked in purposefully. Moana opened her eyes in surprise and let out a gasping gasp with a shudder.

"It's something like that, see? No matter how deep it is. You just have to play with that, there isn’t something mandatory that needs to be done. Be creative," he said, pulling away. Moana swallowed hard and pushed him back to bed. Maui blinked open-mouthed as she tied her long hair in a bun. Things were going to get serious.

Moana slammed into him with a strong squeeze and plunged it into her mouth with determination. Fire exploded in Maui's veins upon seeing her like this. Moana licked his glans, circularly from the frenulum to the tip and then descended with licks and moist kisses all over the base and back up and into her mouth.

"That's right," breathed Maui, discomposed with pleasure. "Watch your teeth."

She tried her best and, as he said, played with his member eagerly, letting her tongue moisten the whole surface, but time passed and she ended up with a sound of suction. Maui dropped back, breathing heavily.

"My jaw hurts," she excused herself. Maui leaned back on his elbow.

"It wasn’t bad for the first time." He smiled at her. Moana licked her lips and began the rhythmic movement with her hands. "If you are tired we can stop."

"With this I have more experience," she said without stopping her constant movement. "I will continue practicing tomorrow." Maui rolled his eyes and looked at her affectionately.

"Come here." He bent down and gave her ankle a slight tug.

"Huh?" She looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Turn over, so I can get you."

Moana obeyed lying on her side with her legs toward him, not quite sure what to do. Maui stroked her thighs and thrust his hand between her legs. She closed them, immobilizing him.

"It's supposed to be my turn."

"We can do it at once."

"That way I can’t concentrate."

"I know." He smiled sideways.

"Are you making this a competition?"

"To see who makes the other cum first? I agree."

"I wasn’t..." She gasped as the demigod's fingers brushed her lips. "Maui!" She groaned as he played with her entrance and walked with horrible calm the road from this to her clit. Determined to win, she increased her rhythm and, with a smile on her side, bent down, wrapped his glans between her lips, giving a strong and determined suction, causing a deep growl in him.

Maui's fingers were wreaking havoc on her, they knew exactly where to touch to make her knees shake and how to rub so that her legs would stop responding. It was when she gave one of his rodeos with her tongue, brushing his frenulum  that she heard him gasp.

"Mo... " she knew it was a warning and he was close.

Suddenly she felt a hollow in her stomach, what should she do when he cums? swallow it? Spit it out? she had seen Maui lick it so she knew that despite its bad taste it was edible. She swallowed and continued with a little more reticence but with a firm resolve.

Maui increased the speed at his touch and with a second finger caressed her entrance in circles. The rush of pleasure caught her off guard and her legs jerked as she pressed her lips around his cock and groaned in pure ecstasy.

"Moana, stop!" Maui exclaimed as her throat trembled around his erection at the moan. He stood up to try to pull her away, but she was quicker, and she stuck her foot through his tusk necklace, forcing him to lie down again with a heavy pull. A few seconds later the demigod grunted and a thick heat filled her mouth. She took a deep breath to avoid the nausea and swallowed hard to ingest all the warm liquid that emanated. She stood up and looked at Maui with a half sly smile and a tear at the corner of her eye. Mini Maui appeared and he lowered the score giving a point to Moana. She went to open her mouth to speak but Maui grabbed her arm and laid her down on the floor putting him over her to devour her mouth with desire, running his tongue every corner and nook of it.

"Maui," she moaned, twisting under him.

"I swear, you're driving me crazy and I don’t know what to do with you," he growled, kissing her again before opening her legs to grab her knees and leaning in with a deliberate movement.

That night Moana lost consciousness after hours of screams of pure ecstasy and it was the first time that the marker of Mini Maui proclaimed the demigod the winner.

 

* * *

 

"It's a boring work," she said, finishing brushing his hair.

"I have nothing better to do and so I can spend time with you" that morning, after another new session of incredible sex, they had started talking about the demigod's new job. They had helped each other get ready and finally Moana had knelt behind him and helped him comb his curly and tangled hair as they spoke.

"But you're going to get bored, I know you don’t like politics."

"If I can be with you, I'll be fine." She smiled caressing his shoulder.

"Maybe if I find a moment we can escape to the jungle for a little while," she said mockingly. Maui snorted.

"I'm dry, literally. I haven’t had an orgasm for centuries and now you ask me for two or three a day, give me time to get used to it. Even a demigod has his limits."

"You can take all the time in the world." She dropped her arms over his shoulders and rested her head on his shoulder. "We have to go."

With one last kiss, they left the hut and went down to the harbor. Along the way they met friends and family who greeted them as they passed with sleepy smiles. The ships could be seen from afar with their occupants beginning the day talking to the first sailors and merchants about the pending trades.

"What is your work exactly?" He asked at her side.

"Mainly formal welcoming and coordinating special services. They talk to the merchants and ask for the products they want but there are some that have other interests. In addition we usually have visits from Kakamoras and I am the only one who speaks their _language_."

"Do you speak the language of the Kakamora?" He asked with surprise and admiration. She shrugged her shoulders.

"If it can be called a language, I speak it. I have to avoid possible confrontations and misunderstandings and I want everyone who arrives to feel welcome. It is very interesting to talk to new sailors, they not only bring their products but also their knowledge." Maui didn’t miss the melancholy look that  she cast to the horizon where the sky joined the sea. Silently he wondered how long Moana had delineated those longings for sailing to take care of her people.

"I can teach you many customs and traditions of the past. From what I have seen in recent years, there is much that has changed but if you are interested in learning, I can always show you."

She smiled at him gratefully.

"I sometimes forget that you have lived for millennia."

"I keep young and fit." He lifted his head, letting his mane fly in the wind. She shook her head and kept walking. It was then that she saw her father in the distance and approached him when he made a gesture to them.

"Good morning," he greeted them.

"Good morning, dad, everything okay?"

"Yes, the boys haven’t yet gone on their fishing shift and I'm looking for Napo to ask if he can bring mussels. The second boat has asked for a basket but we are short on supply."

Moana nodded sympathetically and Tui looked from one to the other.

"Your mother told me that you went to live together. I hope everything is going well." She blushed and gave him a bright smile.

"It's perfect," she replied. Tui's smile widened before he became serious.

"We have to talk about another matter, then." Moana tensed knowingly that what would come next would be something said as head of the tribe and not as a father. "Arona has returned to her work with the children and Maui- "he greeted him with a gesture that he answered" -has nothing to do, and since he is the future leader of our island I think it would be advisable that you were the one who taught him how to do it."

"That will not happen for many years," she complained. "We don’t have to do it now, we can take our time and give him another task."

"There's nothing else right now and that's a good way to get him to know how things are going around here. He could help you and you would have more free time."

"But dad..." she began.

"Mo, it’s alright," Maui interrupted, beside her. "I don’t mind."

Moana closed her mouth with a snap knowing she wasn’t going to make any of them change their minds.

"Okay." She clenched her jaw. "But as soon as I find a job for him we'll leave this for another time."

She saw how his father was going to respond but decided to surrender and nod without much conviction.

"I'll leave you for now, I'll fetch Napo. Your mother and I would like you to join us for dinner today," it was a better idea to change the subject and let the storm dissipate for now.

"We'll be there," she said in a better mood. "For now we have to go, I will notify the ship that we are working on the mussels and will have them with luck at the end of the day, any more news?"

"Not for now, have a good day," with a squeeze on her arm and a nod to Maui, he decided to say goodbye to continue his work, leaving them alone.

"Mo," whispered Maui, knowing the young woman's annoyance.

"It’s fine, Maui." She sighed and looked at him sadly. "I know you don’t like politics and would like to be doing a thousand things besides this, but I don’t know yet what task to give you and I would, at least, want my father to see us work together some time, if only to calm him down and leave us alone. Surely in time you can sneak and wander somewhere else."

"It's no problem." He shrugged. "I don’t like politics or work, it's true, but look at the positive side: I'm going to be able to spend the day with you and I can see you work and manage people."

"You can’t tell me that excites you?" She raised an eyebrow with a half-smile.

"What? See you rule a whole island? Nah," he joked, waving his hand. Moana laughed.

"Better get going," she sighed. "I hope it doesn’t cause a riot to see you there. Many sailors have asked for you when they came to the island," they began to walk towards the beach.

"Asked for me?"

"Yes, you know, rumors fly. Motunui became famous when the news of our marriage spread and how our crops and fisheries were the best. It was said that it was thanks to you and many came to see it with their own eyes. It is true that our products are much higher quality than we had but the rumor was just that, a rumor. Then you appeared years ago and the sailors multiplied. Everyone wanted to see the demigod Maui." She laughed. "But you weren’t here..." the smile narrowed and she stared at the memory of those two years where she had had to live with questions about the location of Maui. Something that she neither knew nor had intended to find out for the simple fact that looking at him had caused her a great pain in her chest.

A hand wrapped around her waist and she was wrapped in a small hug.

"I'm here and I'm not going anywhere," came the whisper in her ear. Moana looked up and smiled fondly.

When they arrived at the port they began to work receiving the new merchants and talking with those who were about to leave but as time passed a rumor spread by the beach and, little by little, they came to be surrounded by a group of interested people who pointed to Maui and mumbled. Of all ages, all sorts of people, and even some Kakamora, they all looked upon the demigod with growing hysteria.

It became so extremely stressful that they both had to intervene. Moana corroborated their words by admitting that he really was Maui, “shapeshifter, demigod of the wind and sea, hero of all, blah blah blah”, standing before them and they all fluttered nervously trying to speak above the rest, screaming to catch his attention. Finally, Moana asked Maui if he could give her some space so that those who really needed her help weren’t pressured by the rest of the people present. Maui accepted with the promise of a visit at lunchtime and left with a kiss on the cheek hidden behind what looked like a whisper in the ear. Not that they wanted to hide their relationship, but knew that Moana wouldn’t appreciate this kind of attention, and a loving gesture between the two at the moment would awaken a lot of talk.

Although they were on completely opposite sides of the beach, they could see each other from a distance while they performed their tasks. Moana watched him tell his stories, use his tattoos to illustrate them, and move his head so that his lovely curly mane fluttered in the wind. Maui, meanwhile, used every moment of distraction to observe the distant silhouette above their heads. More than one had noticed it and turned around to see what the demigod was watching, but saw nothing of greater interest than the head of the tribe talking to new merchants and wayfinders. They barely took a break for lunch, as many of them refused to stop following him to the center of the village where they all gathered to eat. Saiki and the children ate in the distance, giving them sharp looks full of disgust and hatred when they couldn’t approach their friend as they had done all this time, but Maui didn’t know how to keep his entourage away without causing a commotion. It had been years since he'd felt surrounded by so many people and had forgotten that sometimes it was more of a nuisance than something pleasant. He could barely see Moana above the crowd sitting around him. Just the oar above their heads. After a quick meal he decided to try to hide, but they ended up finding him and returned all their attention to him, forcing him to return to the beach to continue with his stories and answer all the questions of his fans.

It was when the sun passed from the highest point of the sky and the ocher colors began to arrive that Moana approached them with steady pace and let her oar hit the sand with each step. Maui watched her approach and stopped talking, attentively to his presence. The group of admirers opened as she passed, allowing her to pass with reverence until she reached the demigod. After a few whispers between them, Moana turned around.

"It's time for you each to return to your ship or home, it's getting late to be here and Maui has other duties to his people," she said loudly and firmly. She didn’t miss the horde of complaints and annoying whispers but that didn’t change her mind. They had had enough, it was time for Maui to return to her side and away from his audience.

"Will he be back tomorrow?" Asked a voice backed by so many others. Moana blinked and looked at Maui for an answer, he simply shrugged helplessly.

"That will be decided tonight," she finally said. There was more murmur around them but Moana decided to ignore them turning to him. "Let's go," she whispered.

They decided to go into the jungle knowing that many of them wouldn’t give up and would prefer to follow them until they find out where they lived. It was a small town and with a simple question to any inhabitant they would discover it but still they decided not to make it easy and hide between the foliage, taking the long road.

Maui turned to the right, toward the village, but Moana continued a couple more steps and stopped to look over her shoulder.

"Where are we going?" He asked, confused.

"My parents want us to have dinner with them and by the time we get home it's going to be very late. I want us to spend some time alone, we've been busy all day."

Maui still frowned.

"And we can’t go home?"

"Not if we want to take a bath." With that last hint and a bright smile, she continued walking. Maui blinked in bewilderment and ran after her, impatiently for what her words could imply.

He followed her closely, watching her squirm through the grove to pass between the bushes and the trunks, her body moving along with her graceful movement of her feet, made her appear to be floating on the grass. The oar acted as a third leg helping her on her winding path, it was hypnotic to see her walk as if she were flying over the ground. Her long, slender legs could bounce off rocks and fallen trees smoothly, her hair shaken with movement and Maui didn’t know what to do with himself. She was magnificent, even the whispering of the leaves were in tune with her breathing and, stupidly of him, he was jealous even of the flowers that brushed her ankles as she passed, the air that she breathed, the light that illuminated her skin, the feathers that covered her body and the tattoos that decorated her skin. And she loved him. He almost let out a laugh. Moana, the chosen one of the ocean, the goddess of his dreams and the demon of his nightmares, she had chosen him to spend her life with. No matter how much he had twisted in her touch or rejected her desires, terrified by a future where her only feeling towards him would be hatred and resentment. She had made up her mind and there was nothing he wasn’t going to get and there was nothing that he could say to prevent it. She loved him.

Before he could figure out what he was doing, he had grabbed her by the arm and flug her against a tree with his mouth inches from hers, holding her with his body.

"Maui" she gasped in surprise. She. Moana. His.

"You told me I didn’t need permission," he whispered against her lips. The dark eyes were burning with lust but a wave of doubt crossed them for a few seconds.

"For what?" she asked in a voice.

"To kiss you," the realization reached her eyes and filled with affection.

"You can kiss me when you w-"

She was interrupted by an urgent kiss from the demigod. Moana groaned on his lips, letting the oar fall to the ground, and her arms to encircle his shoulders and draw him closer to her. She felt the tip of his tongue brush against her lower lip and opened her mouth, allowing the two tongues to join in a furious touch that made her knees tremble at the many sensations that passed through her body. His hands roamed her waist, tracing her warm and naked skin with affection and need, each pore prickling from the lack of contact with that smooth, velvety surface that made him go wild.

"Mine," he growled, nibbling her lower lip. Moana let out a happy sigh and pushed him away from her with one hand, circling around him until she was free of the wooden barrier.

"You're getting a bit possessive," she sneered, Maui smiled halfway and took a step toward her but Moana backed away with warning moans. "Do you want me?" She asked haughtily, then leaned over and whispered; "Catch me."

With a quick movement of her feet, she had already run away, leaving Maui behind with the hook in one hand and her oar in the other. He blinked in bewilderment until he realized what the game was about. He gripped both objects with one hand and with a wolfish smile and a laugh he ran after her. If she believed that she would be able to win against a demigod, she hadn’t yet met the god of the demigods.

He might have been short-legged but his strides were broad and fast, the vegetation passing by as a fuzzy blurred background as he advanced on the run. He jumped a log straight through the air and fell with a dull thud with almost no interruption in his pace, the only thing that stopped him was a heap of red feathers on the ground. He frowned and grabbed it with his free hand, uncovering Moana's feather top.

The purring that emanated from his chest was almost animal and he wasted no time in running away again guided by the promise of a delightful moment of pleasure at the end of this little game. The next item he found were her bracelets, followed by her anklets. A few yards away, was her wreath of flowers and a few more meters, above a mound of earth, as if it had been carefully laid; her skirt. He swallowed, putting the remaining garment in the pile he was carrying, and took a couple of steps toward the branches that hid the view, from where he could hear the river on the other side and his limb had begun to swell with need. He pushed the vegetation aside to find a beautiful, shapely body enjoying the water of the shore, a pendant and a canvas of tattoos as the only coating on her bare skin. His dick jerked under his leaf skirt, annoyed at being still covered with such a vision in front. He had seen thousands of naked humans, they had nothing of interest to him, it was almost boring. Yet she was so similar and so different: her breasts were firm and swollen; her body was slender but not too thin, she was fit and strong, with perfect curves that made every step she took, rock her hips as if she were dancing; her long mane over her back, her dark tattoos were an unbeatable setting for that cinnamon skin; those broad, thick lips that hid a sharp, dominant tongue.

But what he liked the most about her were those dark eyes that glowed like fire every time a mad, or genius, thought crossed her mind, and yet they were able to dazzle him with all the affection and love she professed. He could see all the feelings she was hiding in the moment and, in turn, there were times he didn’t know how she was able to surprise him so much. She was as much a mystery as an open papyrus, she was readable and at the same time incomprehensible: how could someone like her love him? Even more, how could she allow him to love her?  
  
  
  
Moana sensed the presence behind her and she turned to look at him, somewhat self-conscious about all this game and to be naked in front of him again in broad daylight, and this time it wasn’t for a swim between friends. This time they were lovers. She smiled, flushed at the sight of how he had stood still and stared at her in astonishment. She went to speak but Maui came forward with an audible whisper:

"I love you," he said in a small voice, making her blush even more. He didn’t stop there and dropped all his load, including his hook, to approach her while still looking at her as if she were the most sacred thing he had ever seen. In a couple of steps his feet brushed against the water, and he found himself with that other body waiting impatiently on the shore. He framed her face with his hands and kissed her softly, as she deserved, as only she could make him feel. Moana split seconds later to meet his eyes.

"I love you," she replied. And it was true. It didn’t matter how many years they spent together, how many were separated, that one was mortal and the other a demigod, her love for which he was her best friend, for which _is_ her best friend, had not diminished or pacified from the first moment that their lips brushed for the first time. She had silenced the pain of his rejection and his loss, she had spent nights crying disconsolately in her mother's arms and alone in her bed because of the open wound that had left that emptiness in her heart. It was only when she saw him again that she felt full again, she had felt happy again, like when her ankles were licked by the waves of the beach, when the wind rocked her hair at sea, when the smell of the ocean reminded her that her destiny was to be true to herself, brave and brave like the salty water that collided with her raging canoe in her wake. She only needed three things to be happy and right now it was when she realized it; Motunui, the ocean and Maui.

The light in the demigod's eyes made her smile with joy, she would never tire of seeing those dark eyes open and shine from surprise, love and affection. Whether it was simply to see her or to hear her feelings from those lips that he liked to kiss so much. Maui leaned forward again to join their mouths and wrapped his hands around her waist. The nearness of their bodies made Moana realize the hard necessity of the demigod, who pressed against her naked thighs through his skirt of leaves.

"I think you need help," she whispered against his lips, inserting her index fingers into the strings that bound the leaves and running through the sensitive skin of his lower belly until she reached the tip of his limb that peeked over the edge. Before Maui had time to respond, Moana grabbed the liana holding the knot and let it slide open with a strong pull. Leaves, ropes, shells, stones, a knife and other decorations fell to the ground at their feet. Maui snorted with amusement, leaving room for her to look at him naked in all his glory. She blushed but grabbed his hand and slowly walked back to he to follow her into the water. Once they reached a deep depth, she let him embrace her again and melted into another kiss until Moana had to pull away as the hard erection of Maui slammed into her body.

"That has a mind of its own," he excused himself, she ignored him and circled his limb giving him a couple of long, slow jolts, making him sigh.

"Does it excite you to see me naked?" She asked with a half-timid smile.

"It’s not obvious?" He snorted.

"You told me long ago that naked bodies were boring," she reminded him with another squeeze. Maui grunted, closing her eyes at the sudden momentary pressure.

"At that time I was taking a bath with a very young friend, now I am naked a few minutes from an orgasm with a beautiful woman, _my wife_ , grabbing my dick. What do you expect?" She laughed in embarrassment.

"I don’t know if it would be better to take a bath and then return to the shore to get _comfortable_ ," she said dryly. Maui frowned at the tone, and more as she released her grip on him with a fake shy look and turned away a couple of steps to bend and pour water on her shoulders. The demigod choked out a gasp at the sight of Moana's breathtaking sight before him with her long, half-open legs showing the gift she hid between her thighs. Unable to avoid it, he swallowed and threw himself forward to crouch down to her buttocks and bit one with urgency, despite the girl's small groan of pain.

"Brute," she gasped, leaning over to look over her shoulder. Maui let go of the bite and licked the red mark of his teeth and then bite back more gently, massaging both buttocks. His hands were considerably large compared to her body. She had grown up, matured, but she was certainly much smaller than him. He pushed that thought away from his head and with his thumbs extended the buttocks open, licking his lips for the delicacy he would find. Moana grunted as she grabbed his hands to stop him, but he was faster and tucked his head between her thighs to taste her with gluttony.

Moana groaned clinging to his hands to keep her balance and let herself enjoy the wonderful pleasure he gave her. He knew exactly where to touch her, where to lick and kiss until let her as a sobbing mass. After a few more touches with his tongue, Maui pulled away with a last soft bite on her left buttock.

"It's not the most appropriate position," he hinted, waiting for her to volunteer to return to the shore so he could continue enjoying her pleasure.

"It's a shame you can’t breathe underwater," she joked, gasping for breath. Maui blinked in amazement at her words and half-smiled crookedly.

"Who says I can’t?" He jumped to his feet and lifted her unceremoniously onto his shoulder. She whimpered at the sudden movement and rolled into his arms.

"But what are you doing? Get me down! Maui!" once in the shore he left her sitting in the shallow water and went for his magic hook.

Once free, Moana turned to look at him but only caught a blue flash and Maui approaching her with the hook in his hand. She frowned at him, unable to recognize any apparent change. Already in the water, Maui put his hook to his side and crawled up to face her.

"What have you done?"

"Gills!" He exclaimed amusedly grabbing her thighs to extend them. But after speaking, he had shown a huge smile full of huge, white, pointed teeth. Moana let out a small cry and closed her legs quickly.

"You're not going to put that mouth near me!"

The demigod blinked in dismay a couple of times, not knowing how to react until she pointed to her own teeth. With a raised eyebrow, he ran his tongue through the sharp incisors and swore in a low voice, reaching for his hook again. With a spark, his teeth had returned to normal.

"Almost a disaster," he laughed.

"You're the disaster," she snorted, unable to hold back her laughter. Maui made a couple of grimaces, imitating her, and grabbed her thighs to pull them apart.

"You know how this is, but since I'll be underwater, I will not be able to hear you if you use the security word. Give me a sign-"

"Don’t worry, I'll pull you out by your hair," she interrupted, and he closed his mouth with a snap and frowned at her.

"... but pulling my hair. Seriously, over five thousand years taking care of my silky hair and you shred it in less than two minutes."

"You're going off on a tangent," she said in a singsong voice. Maui snorted and with one last angry glance descended to disappear from the surface of the river. The sensation of that moist, warm mouth on her skin contrasted with the cold of the water made her shudder and brought her hands to the long curls of her lover. He always complained about how much she abused of his hair but had never done anything to stop her, what's more, he increased his actions with desire, leading her to the desired ecstasy in a few minutes and as many times as she took to end up fainting with pleasure and exhaustion.

As she had expected, her knees were soon shaking so badly that Maui had to hold them so they would stop hitting him and keep them open; Her breathing became more nervous and agitated; her fingers slammed into his scalp and she threw her head back, letting out grunts of pleasure that ended in a last and final sob that left her shaky, trembling body almost in ruins.

Maui soon got his head out of the water with a triumphant smile, licking his lips with a thoughtful smile.

"Everything all right, princess?" He raised an eyebrow, Moana stuck out her tongue and closed her eyes, still trying to catch her breath. He sat up and held her to keep her from sinking into the water. Slowly and with all the care of the world, he took her in his arms, catching his hook that shone in blue, making the gills disappear, and left her on the land, squatting in front of her and stroking her hair affectionately. Moana moaned and rubbed her face against his hand with a sigh of satisfaction.

"I'm sorry about your hair," she said in a low voice. Maui snorted and brushed a strand off his forehead with a wave. "I think it's my turn" she said with a smile, rubbing his erection with her leg, she didn’t miss the wolfish half smile of Maui.

"I think so, what do you have in mind?" Moana slowly raised her foot, up his abdomen to his chest, and gave him a strong push to make him fall backwards, sitting. Maui had to lean with his arms behind him to keep from falling back into the water, but every complaint died on his lips when he saw Moana rise and crawl between his legs. By the gods, he was going to come hotly quick with that vision of her naked, wet and limp from her recent orgasm.

Moana grabbed his cock, giving it a couple of pleasant swings, and lowered the skin, exposing the purple tip. She licked her lips and descended slowly with her mouth half open, swallowing the entire glans with a moan of pleasure. She let her tongue play with the frenulum and traverse the slit where it began to emanate pre semen, that she swallowed with a quick lick. Then she looked up at Maui and sucked hard, making him grunt, digging his fingers into the ground behind him. She began the upward and downward movement, helping herself with one hand and not looking away from his dark eyes. That woman was going to kill him.

She played with it fiercely and enjoyed it, dragging her teeth over the sensitive tip before running it with her tongue and bringing it to her mouth for another suction. Her other hand climbed up her thigh to hold his testicles, which licked eagerly while keeping masturbating him. She was a beginner, she knew, her technique wasn’t the best and possibly even bad in it, but she was learning from every sigh and every muscle that tensed under her touch. She could assume, before Maui spoke, which area he liked and which didn’t, what hurt him and what made him crazy, that made him moan between teeth and throw his head back with a hoarse growl.

The problem came when her lack of experience was noted as her jaw soon began the first jabs of pain from the effort and tension. Maui was too big and forced her to hold her mouth open too much to accommodate _him_. He seemed to notice it, taking advantage of one of the swings to grab the base of his glans and prevent her from continuing.

"Stop, let's change."

"What you want to do?" she licked the tip, letting her tongue wipe the clear liquid. Maui stared at her for a moment, his cheeks reddening.

"Lie on your back." Moana blinked in surprise and obeyed, lying on the floor waiting for the next order.

Maui looked rather embarrassed and self-conscious as he slipped between her open legs and pulled her toward him. He opened and closed his mouth several times before clearing his throat and saying;

"If you find it uncomfortable you tell me, okay?"

"What you have in mind?" Maui reddened even more and muttered under his breath. "What?"

"I want to cum all over you." he growled a little louder. Moana opened her eyes in surprise but ended up licking her lips seductively.

"That sounds very hot, how can I help you?"

By the gods what had he has done to her? He gripped his erection with one hand and caressed her side with the other.

"Touch yourself," he asked, his eyes on her, beginning to masturbate. Moana obeyed and stroked her breasts with a muffled moan. Her hands trailed her body making her skin prickle with a chill and she threw her head back with a groan as she pinched her nipples. Maui squeezed his jaw, looking down at her and stroking her side, climbing up to a breast, playing with her nipple until it hardened with his touch. Once satisfied, he continued his journey until he reached those thick, impatient lips that licked his fingers with greed, drawing more than a snarl from his mouth. He stroked her lower lip with his thumb and Moana opened her mouth sucking and playing with it with her tongue as if it were his erection. Maui swore and cursed under his breath as each tongue twitched against his digits was a rush that ran straight to his crotch.

He looked down at the area and bent low enough to rub his erection against the valley between her legs. They both groaned with pleasure and looked at each other expectantly. Moana was red and her eyes were burning with the fire of desire. He had to swallow and look at their bodies again. He knew that it would only take one command of her to undo all his bonds and to give in to temptation.

He couldn’t allow it.

He rubbed their sex together with every movement and the woman's gasps and groans became music to his ears. Damn it, this sea witch had caught him in her lusty net and wasn’t going to let him out of there alive.

He had no complaints whatsoever.

"Mo, I-I'm close." He cursed again when she took this as a challenge and her groans and games increased until Maui could no longer contain himself and let himself be carried away by the wave of pleasure that burst inside him. He had to lean on one hand on the floor, next to her head, so he would not fall on her as his body shook with orgasm. Thick strands of pearly semen emanated from him, falling onto the willing body below. After a few seconds of ecstasy, Maui blinked and shook his head, returning to himself. Realizing what had happened, he sat up on his knees to look at Moana and had to restrain a grunt of pleasure at seeing how that dark skin was decorated with long silvery rivers. From her sex to her face was wet with the pearly substance, and to her dismay, Moana seemed very pleased and excited by the experience.

"I'm sorry," he said huskily, stroking her chest, spreading his seed over her skin.

"You don’t have to be, it was exciting," she replied, licking her lower lip where a pair of crystalline drops could be seen. "I didn’t know you liked this kind of thing."

"It's an animal instinct I'm trying to suppress." He stepped away from her and sat down next to her with his legs still shaking. He had to close his eyes at the sinful sight he had in front of him. "We should go back to the water, and this time just to bathe."

"Agreed," she said, rising to her feet. "We have to go soon to see my parents or they will get impatient.” She walked towards the river moving her hips and Maui had to bite the inner skin of his mouth not to let out a roar and run towards her for another round. He hadn’t felt that way for millennia, when he was just a teenager and his penis was thinking for itself. He had once believed that humans could never make him feel this way again, how wrong he had been.

He joined her in the water and a shiver ran through his as it reached his sensitive penis. Moana noticed it and let out a snort.

"Cold, isn’t it?"

"Frozen," he said. She frowned.

"What does that word mean?"

"You know, ice, snow..." Moana shook her head.

"I don’t know what that is."

"Haven’t you ever seen the snow?"

"I don’t think so, what is it?"

"It's solid water. It is so cold that it becomes hard as a rock."

Moana opened her mouth, stunned.

"You are kidding."

"No, I'm serious. It appears in very cold places, in winter or on the highest mountains."

"Sounds incredible, will you take there me one day?" Maui looked at her for a moment. A young woman who had never seen the snow didn’t know how dangerous it could be. He had seen people perish from the cold or from consequent illnesses, it wasn’t safe to risk someone to something it wasn’t accustomed to.

"No, I can’t." Moana moaned, asking why. He ignored her and thought for a moment. "But maybe I can show you."

He left the river returning seconds later with his hook. With a quick glance Moana he smiled, caught air and blew over the surface of the river. It began to turn whitish and hard. She gaped at him in surprise. He took the little sheet and brought it to her.

"This is ice." She caught it carefully, opening her mouth as she felt the icy surface against her fingers. It was so cold that her skin seemed to burn.

"This is…"

"Frozen," he said.

"I've never seen anything like this, is this snow, too?"

"More or less." He stepped away from her and prepared himself with the hook.

He lifted it high and then dropped it hard into the water creating a great splash. But instead of falling again, the drops spread through the air dancing in a chorus of small white dots blown by the breeze. Moana let out a surprised laugh, looking around her in disbelief. The spots that fell on her skin melted instantly leaving only a cold kiss as a memory. She couldn't help but laugh when she saw Maui, who, being closer to the impact, was completely covered with a white cloak over his shoulders and head. He didn’t seem to care, he didn’t even seem to notice, he only had eyes for her. She was so beautiful surrounded by snowflakes, her skin glittered with them and her hair caught the little dots and looked like she wore a veil of pearls.

When he felt observed, he came out of his reverie and smiled.

"Are you covered with... snow?" She asked not very sure. He confirmed it, shoved the snow off his head and took a handful off his shoulder.

"Children often have fun with this." He came over and put the perfect ball in her hand. "They throw it at each other, make real battles."

She dropped the sheet of ice to catch the ball and rocked it from hand to hand.

"My fingers ache," she murmured in confusion and surprise.

"It's normal, give it to me." She pulled away to prevent him from taking it.

"No, it's okay, I like it."

"You will not be able to keep it," he laughed, knowing full well what was going on in her head. She frowned.

"Why not?"

"Because when heated it will be undone and will be water again."

"Really? Is there no way to leave it like this?" Maui stared at her in silence, his eyes fixed on her pleading eyes. He would do anything for her, whatever, and if that was to have a snowball in the middle of a tropical island, she would have it; He was Maui.

"Give it to me." This time Moana agreed to give it to him, a little sadly. Maui put it to his lips and blew all over the surface. After a quick analysis he made it jump into his hand and handed it to her. "It's yours."

Moana smiled fully gratefully and picked it up again enjoying the chill that ran down her arms.

"Thank you, Maui, I can’t wait to show everyone."

That smile.

That smile is why he would do everything: he would lower the sun, move the stars, freeze the entire ocean if she asked him, it would snow every day... if that would keep her forever.

"We should go now, they'll be waiting for us." She nodded in agreement. He helped her clean his mess until her skin was clean and silky. He straightened her hair, combed her curls, and helped to put on her red feathered dress again. Together, and by the hand, returned to the village to spend a quiet and pleasant dinner with their family.

 

* * *

 

Maui woke up alone that morning. The gap between his arms was warm but empty, Moana had left recently. When he became more aware of his surroundings he realized that the atmosphere was colder and there was a constant pounding against the roof of the cabin. He sat up in dismay and looked around. She was leaning against the crack in the doorway, watching the rain. She had dressed lightly but her clothes were loose and falling off, ready to be raptured again at any moment. Neither had planned to sleep naked, but since almost every night they fell asleep rapidly after great sex, none wanted to cover themselves with anything other than the body of the other and a fine sheet.

The whole village was enveloped in a gray aura by the clouds, streams of water ran through the precarious dirt streets and, in the distance, could be heard to ring some thunder. Moana had loved the rain since she became the chief of her tribe. Every day she had a job to do, every morning she woke up with a long list of tasks that took her all day until sunset. But the rainy days weren’t like that. The island was empty, everyone was in their houses waiting for it to subside. There were no duties, no tasks, no work, it was as if time stood still and could rest.

"Mo?" Maui asked after her. She glanced over her shoulder at her partner and walked over to him with a smile.

"Good Morning."

"Good morning." Mini Maui greeted her as well, and they both yawned in unison. "Is it raining?"

"Yes, today all our tasks have been canceled. We have the day off. We have to be aware if there is any problem at the last minute, but I’m not too worried." She sat down next to him and let him put a hand on her knee affectionately.

"Can we stay here then?" He asked with a smile. They woke up together and slept together, but for most of the day they had to spend it apart; She with her tasks and he with the large number of fans he had managed to gather in a place near the port as the basis for their meetings. Having the opportunity to spend a whole day with her as before was something that filled him with joy.

"I had nothing better in mind." She bent down and kissed the corner of his mouth. Mini Maui cheered up demanding attention and she let out a small laugh and kissed the tattoo.

"Hey!" Maui tensed the breastplate to push him and Mini Maui kicked him.

"Enough, both of you." She chuckled and crawled toward him. Maui, seeing her, opened his arms and let her melt into them. Moana sighed, satisfied by the warmth and comfort, she really loved these kinds of encounters.

But, as always, something had to tear it apart, and that was Maui's stomach roaring furiously.

Moana turned away despite the apologies of the demigod.

"All right, let's have breakfast first. We have all day ahead" Maui couldn’t help but smile at it and let her go to one of the walls of the house where she kept the belongings. After picking up a handful of pieces of fruit, she returned to him.

"If I knew you weren’t going to do anything when it rained, I'd have brought storms more often." He laughed, picking up a banana.

"I'll write that down for next time," she joked.

"Pua and Hei Hei are not taking shelter with us?"

She shook her head.

"Pua is in the stalls, already has a family and usually spends time with them. And Hei Hei... " she sighed. "Well, you know Hei Hei. Hard to know where he will be."

They finished eating with a quiet chat but it was obvious that something was going through Moana's head. Since dinner with her parents weeks ago she had been holding onto some secret and Maui couldn’t help but be between frightened and nervous for what she had to say. It wasn’t that something bad had happened on the visit, on the contrary, he felt at home, but the fact that Tui touched on the subject of Moana's having to teach him the job of head of the tribe, had put her in a remarkable mood during the rest of the afternoon. He hadn’t wanted to touch on the subject beyond assuring her that he was fine with being with her for those classes, but Moana had rejected all mention. He knew that succession was very important to her tribe, her family and to her, didn’t want to force it but didn’t want either to see her like that.

Mini Maui seemed to notice his feelings and cheered as she was distracted, shaking his head in her direction.

"I think we have to talk," he finally said. She looked up, her brow furrowed in confusion.

"Something bad?" Maui pushed away the scraps of the fruit and crawled a few inches to stand beside her.

"You've been very thoughtful since the discussion with your parents."

She opened her mouth to interrupt, but he stopped her.

"I get it, really, but you know they're right. I am the future head of Motunui and, Mo, I can be a demigod but I don’t know anything about ruling an island, I need you to teach me. You're the best at this."

Moana clenched her jaw and shook her head.

"You're not going to be the chief of Motunui, Maui, I'm not letting you."

"Moana..."

"No," she said. "I know you hate politics, I know you don’t like being trapped on an island. You're here for me, this is all my fault, but I'm going to fix it."

"How?"

She sank her shoulders.

"I don’t know yet. I haven’t thought about that yet but there is still time, I'm still young and we will not have to worry about that for many years to come."

Maui clenched his jaw. Maybe Moana didn’t really have a plan but it didn’t escape that there was something she had thought about and didn’t want to tell him. He swallowed, preparing for his next words.

"Moana." He grabbed one of her hands and squeezed it. "If you want to have a child, I wouldn’t mind."

She frowned, disoriented by what he had just said.

"But we can’t have children," the grip on her hand intensified, she wasn’t really ready for the next thing Maui said.

"Not with me, if you need a child, if you want to have a child, and stay with me, I wouldn’t object. I would understand," he said urgently as Moana's face turned red with fury, "I would love it as if it were mine."

Moana clenched her hand angrily.

"I don’t want a child with anyone! I am not a pig that have to force to breed for the future of the island. It's my body, it's my life, you're my husband, I'm not going to sacrifice that for anyone."

"I don’t ask you to sacrifice anything," he whispered. "It's just that I understand your responsibilities to your people, I know you've thought of something and you didn’t want to tell me, I thought you'd think I was going to be bothered or feel badly. I'm totally by your side, for whatever."

Moana sighed, surrendering.

"No, it was not that. I was thinking of choosing a successor in the future."

"Do you think your father...?"

"No, of course he wouldn’t approve. We come from a long line of chiefs and choosing someone who is not a direct descendant would be a blow to him. He hasn’t been able to have more children so this is something that depends on me, but I am not willing to give it to him."

"And what will you do?" Moana looked away.

"I guess I will wait until he can't get angry anymore" this time it was Maui who looked down. Moana had decided her fate, a fate alongside someone who couldn’t give her a family and she was fine with it, but he knew they were the only two. The tribe would be a problem, especially the elderly, and her family, her father, would be the first to reject the idea of anyone taking the leadership of Motunui. She would have to wait for him to leave this world to make this decision and trust that his spirit and his ancestors could forgive her someday.

"I'm sorry." He patted her leg with his thumb. But she shook her head and looked at him decisively.

"I am not. I don’t regret anything. I have everything I want and I have nothing more to ask for. Neither my people, nor my family, nor the gods."

"Well, you have the best demigod of all, that's a good point."

Moana slapped his chest with a laugh.

"You are impossible."

"And handsome."

"Stupid."

"Really sexy."

"Egocentric."

"I have the biggest-" Moana rose to cover his mouth with her hands, aware of how that phrase ended. He said something intelligible and she moved her hands slightly away.

"What?"

"I love you." She blushed, smile and bent to kiss him.

Maui's hands moved up her hips and caressed them with his thumbs.

"You're wearing too many clothes," he complained against her lips, Moana snorted.

"No, it's you who should wear something. We still don’t know if anyone is coming to ask us something."

"We can say we're not home." She laughed.

"And where else could we be?" She finally managed to get out of his claws despite his pout.

"It's not fair." He slumped back, arms outstretched in defeat. She walked over to him.

"Come on, we can do other things," she teased, pricking his side with one finger.

"Like what? We can’t do nasty things, we can’t leave the hut... "He turned his back. Moana laughed knowingly that the childish attitude was just a way to get what he wanted and she would not allow it, at least not until she was sure no one would bother them. In this position, Maui's hair pulled back, exposing that _ugly_ tattoo. Ugly not because it wasn’t a work of art, but because it was the first moment that Maui lost confidence in humans and was, for bad ones, his first memory. How his parents had gotten rid of him when he was born.

Before realizing, her hand was already caressing that point as if it could relieve all the damage done. Her heart clenched into a fist at the thought of a little child who barely knew how to crawl and with that tattoo as the only memory of his parents, how they abandoned him. He had to feel very alone for many years and she was sure that was what had formed all his insecurities and that wall of false bravado that hid his true fears, hatred and feelings.

"You can tell me a little more about yourself, you know I like your stories" now Maui’s mood changed. He knew that Moana meant it and the time of the games was over.

"What do you want to know?" He said without turning.

"Where were you born, when were you born?"

"I was born on an island several months sailing away. When, I don’t remember."

"Have you ever visited it again?"

"I did, but there's nothing there." He sighed. "The islands don’t live forever, when I had the courage to return there was only water. I don’t remember much then, just the stars. I fly over the place or go down to the bottom of the ocean where there are some remains."

Moana smiled sadly.

"Maybe someday you could take me there."

"You've been." Moana blinked and frowned.

"When?"

"Years ago. When we met after our marriage" she gasped. Those were the stars Maui remembered, the ones engraved on her pendant, her earliest memory of childhood. The place where everything started.

"I-I didn’t know..."

He shrugged.

"Meh, it's not important. As I said, there is nothing else there."

Moana looked down at the tattoo again and brushed the female figure.

"Have you..." She swallowed, not knowing if it was going to be too personal, even for her.

"Go on." Moana sighed again, restating her words.

"Have you ever forgiven her? You know..." Maui tensed under her touch and she pulled her hand away as if it burned. "Sorry, it was a horrible question, I shouldn’t have asked it."

Maui turned to her and grabbed her.

"Lie with me. I don’t want to turn my back on you as I speak."

"You don’t have to say anything, I should not-" Maui interrupted her and insisted, so she found herself lying next to him with her head on his arm and looking at those dark eyes that avoided her gaze.

"Thousands of years ago, during my long years of learning with the gods, I used to run away to visit humans. I was curious because they were like me, they looked like me. On one of the islands I met... "He frowned." I've forgotten her name," he whispered with apprehension and a grimace between sad and angry. He swallowed and continued more gently. "She was a girl, she was younger than you when we first met. Her mother died when she gave birth, and her father was ill... " He inhaled. "He had sold her to a man on the island. Her father had treated her like an animal. She was just a child, Mo... but she wasn’t angry, she loved her father and she didn’t think her situation was bad. She was a child, but she was more mature than me," he said with a sad laugh. "She understood that her father couldn’t take care of her, and her _husband_ was kind and treated her well. The gods raised me by telling me from the beginning what my parents had done to me, I had it tattooed on my back, but what they didn’t tell me was that I hadn’t been the only one, many, many children died because their parents couldn’t take care of them. I think I decided to believe that the fault of they didn’t love me was because of living conditions, not mine. The world back then wasn’t like the one you know now, living wasn’t easy and sometimes sacrifices had to be made. I didn’t know why they only saved me or why they did nothing to help humanity, but I knew I couldn’t let that go on. I wasn’t going to let that happen."

Moana stared at him.

"That's why you did it... that's why you helped us all. You wanted to help humans live better but you also wanted to prevent more children from going through the same thing as you."

"The children aren’t to blame for being born, they just want to live." Moana stroked his cheek, not knowing what to say. Maui kissed her palm, thanking her for the consolation. It was thanks to him that they had this kind of life, that they had gone forward and advanced so much. It was thanks to him that the children no longer died and that they could sail the seas, that they could eat and have a full life. There were no words to thank him for everything he had done for them. Maybe that was why the gods saved him, so he could give humans a chance.

"When I saw how she had forgiven her parents despite the life that had forced her to live, she made me think of mine. I went to see them once but I had spent too much time away. The next time I returned, the island was gone. I think I kept going waiting for something, maybe her spirit would appear and I could see her, but it never happened." He looked into those dark eyes damp with tears. "She was my mother. Of course I forgave her, a long time ago."

"Do you remember her?"

"I only have a piece of her memory, dark eyes." He closed his eyes as if he were living a painful memory. "And then only stars."

After a few minutes in silence Moana found her voice:

"I'm sure she's seen what you've done and she's very proud of you."

"Thank you, Moana." He closed his eyes, enjoying the gentle touch of her hand against his cheek.

"One day we can return, both of us. I want you to show me where the island was." Maui smiled but shook his head.

"I have nothing there, everything I have is here. I've lived too long looking at the past and thinking about the future. I must live the present with what I have collected along the way but not going back. I have been Maui the demigod shapeshifter; Maui the demigod of the wind and sea; Maui the hero of all; Maui the protector... Now I'm all that and more, now I'm Maui from Motunui, husband of Moana Waialiki, chief of Motunui, and that’s a title I will keep with me forever."

"Maui of Motunu." She smiled. "I like how it sounds."

"Me too." He lifted a hand to stroke her cheek, imitating her gesture. "I wouldn’t change this for anything."

"I love you," she whispered. Maui leaned down and kissed her eagerly. She was the chosen one. He had never known any human who had ever cried for him, and here was Moana. He wondered how he had survived so long with this emptiness in his chest until he met her.

"I love you," he said after breaking the kiss.

"How much?" She asked, biting her tongue in mockery.

"More than... hmmm My hook" Moana opened her eyes in surprise.

"That much?"

"Of course."

"More than a hot mud bath?"

"Hey, don’t exaggerate."

They shared a few laughs and a couple more loving kisses. Moana looked into his eyes, enjoying the warmth and love she saw in them. A question crossed her lips without even thinking.

"Since when?" He made a confused sound. "Since when did you start loving me?"

His eyes widened in amazement.

"Since when?" He murmured to himself, she gave him time to think.

"You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to... it's just out of curiosity."

"No, no, that's a good question, I just don’t know the answer. Loving you... I've loved you for a long time, that's for sure. Even before we returned Te Fiti’s heart, you were my first friend in many millennia. I know," he said quickly as she opened her mouth to interrupt him. "I know you don’t mean that kind of love. I'm just thinking. I loved you for a long time, when those feelings became something more..." he closed his eyes. "I always knew that one day I would fall in love with you, that it was best to stay away because that was going to happen. You would find someone to love and I would be in second place. So the separation wouldn’t be so painful."

"Is that why you didn’t stay with me on the island?" She asked annoyed.

"I didn’t want to interfere in your life in any way. My feelings would have been too much or maybe they wouldn’t have been well received. Anyway, it wasn’t like that when I fell in love with you."

She looked expectantly at him to continue, Maui sighed.

"There is no exact date, I don’t know what you expect me to say. One afternoon I said goodbye to my best friend and as soon as my wings gave the first shake in the air my heart stopped beating for a moment. Suddenly she wasn’t just my best friend but I wasn’t going to let that affect our friendship. When you kissed me on your birthday, I-I just couldn’t help it. Everything exploded inside me, I didn’t want to worry about anything anymore, but in time I returned to my senses and realized what I had done. I felt bad for wanting you, I felt that I was taking advantage, that was a mistake. But, by the gods that I loved you, I was weak and I let myself go."

"Then I asked for too much," she guessed. He shook his head.

"We were in a relationship, it was normal. But you're very young and every moment we were together, the guilt got bigger. It was one thing to share a few kisses, some kind of a treat... but _that_ would have been a major step and I was too afraid of the consequences."

"And now?" Maui looked at her carefully.

"I have accepted them, and the future, and your feelings. I gave up, I don’t want to fight any more. The future will come and it will be as it has to be, and I will be happy if you still want me by your side."

"That is something that I would have to say, in a few years I will be an old woman."

"And I'll be there to make that happen. I'm going to take care of you." He rolled his eyes, knowing that she was going to say something about. "I know it's not necessary, that you can take care of yourself, but I'll be there anyway. I will be in your life as long as you want; I will see you cry, laugh, suffer, enjoy... I don’t want to miss even a second. When the moment of farewell arrives I will continue there, taking your hand and waiting for your spirit to return to me."

Moana's eyes filled with tears, and her lower lip trembled.

"Oh, Maui," she sobbed, rising to join their mouths in a warm kiss.

They wrapped their arms devouring each other with need and passion, their tongues played with each other, their teeth bit and sucked the other's lip, the heat of the room rose until they were both in a panting mess in their shattered bed

They rubbed their noses together, smiling at each other before returning to another furious kiss. Moana writhed in his arms and moaned as she felt her body wrap itself in the heat of the flames of desire. Maui dropped down again when they cut off the kiss and looked into her eyes with something like doubt.

"And you?" He asked hesitantly. Moana blushed, avoiding his gaze.

"They had to tell me. I didn’t notice," she whispered softly. Seeing how her words could be misunderstood, she turned to him. "I liked sleeping with you, spending time with you and... you touching me. I didn’t want you to leave even though I never told you. But I didn’t realize until they told me what my feelings meant. They were right."

She looked into his eyes with a loving smile.

"I don’t know how I could have been so blind."

"You only had eyes for your people and the sea, it's normal."

"It's not, they were my feelings, how could I not see them coming?"

"You were just a girl, we were friends and I'm a demigod. Many times we confuse feelings of love with gratitude."

"Is that why you didn’t believe me?" Maui nodded.

"I should have realized there's nothing normal about you."

He stroked her cheek with love, smiling as she closed her eyes and let herself enjoy his touch.

Then she opened her eyes and stuck them into his.

"I want to do it," she whispered seriously. Maui blinked in bewilderment.

 

 

"Now? How about anybody coming to look for us? We don’t even have lubricant on hand, we can’t do it without lubricant-" Moana had to stop the growing attack of hysteria with a soothing hiss.

"No, not now, but I'd like to. I mean, if you want, of course."

Maui almost laughed, if he wanted? Just mentioning it had made his penis contract and he wasn’t even erect. But he couldn’t leave his rational thought in the background, not with this.

"Mo, it's going to hurt. I need you to understand that and be sure. We have no obligation whatsoever."

"I don’t do it out of obligation, I also know you're going to be careful."

"Being careful is irrelevant, you are a virgin and I am quite large."

"What does a virgin have to do with it?"

"The virgin women have a kind of skin barrier that breaks the first time," he explained patiently. "Breaking it hurts, that's where the blood comes from. In addition, being a new experience for the body can be a bit uncomfortable until one gets used to it."

Moana frowned.

"I thought being a virgin was a good thing, but it sounds very unpleasant."

"Being a virgin is neither good nor bad, it simply is. Many times that barrier, the hymen, is broken in a normal and common way when practicing other types of activities. It's not something important."

"But the gods are supposed to like virgins." Maui frowned.

"The gods? Man, if you are going to eat a human you prefer to eat it knowing that nobody has fucked it before, but at the time of sharing a bed?" He shook his head. "I have always preferred an experienced partner. At first, yes, when I had the idea of being a demigod in the head, I was only sleeping with virgins." Moana raised an eyebrow at his words, he always had the idea of being a demigod in the head, but she chose not to interrupt. "But I soon realized that an experienced partner will give you a more satisfying night than a frightened and obliging young woman "he made a scornful grimace. Moana's eyes widened in surprise.

"Obligate?" She gasped, she would never have imagined Maui as a man who would do such a thing.

"Not in that sense," he hastened to rectify. "I've never, ever, forced anyone in my bed. I mean, I was not chosen as a couple, it was an ‘ _offering to the gods’_." He rolled his eyes. "You could tell that they wanted to be anywhere but there, even though they were too afraid to say anything. Most of the time you could tell they didn’t want to and we spent talking time. Other times it did happen but it was by mutual agreement. The humans soon realized that I enjoyed a feast of offering better than a sacrificial virgin. It is uncomfortable to lie with someone who looks at you with fear and who doesn’t know what to do or how to feel. Virginity is overrated, it's a human concept to have power over women and put a price on your manhood." He ended up boring and somewhat annoying. "These young women were treated as a gift, as an object that the people gave to the gods. I became accustomed to helping them by feigning the consummation so that they could have their own lives."

"So me being a virgin bothers you?" She asked something self-conscious.

"No, it's not a problem, not a bother, or something to be ashamed of. Virgin, not virgin, don’t change my feelings nor will they ever. That a woman with status must remain virgin and pure until marriage is nonsense. Having sex doesn’t mess up your spirit, it doesn’t make you unclean. For example; Look at men, have you ever heard a man being unclean for sleeping with many women? No, that's just something men tell to women. Ridiculous, right? Staying with someone is not going to change who you are. Will you continue to love the sea, your people and being as you are after sleeping with someone?" Moana nodded convinced. "That's what's important."

"Then what are you worried about?" Maui sighed.

"Hurting you, in the first place."

"But even if I do it with another person it would hurt" Maui avoided the contraction in his chest for her words and continued.

"Doing it with another person would have reproductive utility. Ours would only be to spend time and give us pleasure, we can do many more things with which I’ll not hurt you."

"Is it the same as what we've done?"

"Similar." Moana stared at him and he rolled his eyes. "It’s better. Quite a bit better if you do it with an experienced and attentive partner."

"I like that. I don’t know anyone better than Maui for this task."

"Were you listening to me?"

"You know that i do." They both stared at each other for long seconds.

"You still want to do it..."

"I still want to do it," she corroborated with a nod.

The noise of the rain was diminishing as they spoke, until it became an empty murmur and finally stopped. It was the signal she took to get up with one last kiss.

"It subsided a little, get dressed. Maybe they'll come and see us now because of a leak or roof problem. Something always happens." She went off to a corner and adjusted her clothes, leaving room for him to do the same.

He had barely finished his skirt when a head poked through the door.

"Moana, there are problems at Alepati's house" said a young man with agitation.

"What happened?"

"Water has entered and some of the pigments have been spoiled. He doesn’t want to lose the rest so he sent me to find you."

"Go ahead, I'll go right now." The young man nodded and went ahead, leaving them alone again.

"You have to go," Maui said. She nodded.

"I'll get up now that there's not much rain and then I'll come and see my parents." She walked over to him and bent to kiss him. Maui responded with pleasure. When she let go, she looked into his eyes. "I have duties for you."

"What does the chief of the tribe want from this humble demigod?"

"I want you to bring everything we need."

"Everything we need? For what?" Moana's scrutinized look gave him all the answers he needed. "Are you sure?"

She pulled away.

"Tonight, Maui."

As she left he knew there was no way he could change her mind, and mentally made a list of everything they would need. It was going to be a long day.

 

* * *

 

"Oil, tissues..." he began to count in a low voice, "... romantic details, water, balsam of matua pua'a" he looked at Mini Maui "anything else?"

The tattoo was animated and pointed to Mini Moana and then to his stomach to finish with the arms perched on his hips."

"Food." He put a hand to his forehead, pounding hard. Mini Maui nodded, his arms crossed. "Well, I'm sorry, I can’t think in everything. Has been a thousand years since we have had a date, you could at least have said something." Mini Maui gestured again. "Of course I bathed, it rained me all the way from the provisions house up here. Yes that counts as a bath, I had water up to parts of my body that I didn’t know could get wet."

"Are you arguing again?" Moana asked with a smile running her hair out the door.

"You're back soon."

"I was talking to my parents, but they wanted to take the day off to rest, so I decided not to bother them too much." She walked past him, taking off her damp clothes. "What have you been doing in my absence?"

"We've done our homework." Mini Maui hit his chest with his elbow. "I've forgotten something, it's not to throw it in my face like that."

"What have you forgotten?" She put on a new change of dry clothes and sat down next to them.

"Dinner. It would have been nice to have a decent dinner for today."

Moana looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"A dinner? Like it was a date?"

"It is a date."

"What differentiates today from yesterday? Well, apart from the obvious-" she couldn’t help but blush slightly.

"We've spent more time together, and that, _for the obvious_. I wanted today to be perfect."

"We're spending more time together than usual, that's perfect for me" Maui and Mini Maui stared at her in astonishment, Mini Moana nodded in agreement and pleased. They both looked embarrassed.

"You're the best, Mo."

"That doesn’t mean I'm not going to be angry if you've forgotten what's important."

"No, I have it all."

"Great, then we'll be able to cook dinner together."

"Cook together? I like the idea." Moana smiled at him and went to the baskets of food.

"What do you want to eat?" she asked, analyzing the food. Maui crawled after her and kissed her neck, looking over her shoulder.

"You," he whispered in her ear. She gave a small laugh.

"That at the end. I have mangoes, kiwis, bananas, a couple of coconuts... oh, I think I also have fruit juice, also a couple of vanilla tea bags."

"You should take some."

"Tea? But I don’t feel like heating water now, is it important?"

"It would help with your nerves."

"I'm not nervous, I trust you."

"I will rephrase, it would help me with my nerves," Moana laughed.

"Are you nervous?"

"I've forgotten the food, Mo, I'm terrified."

"You'll be fine, I'll take care of you." Maui grimaced at the mockery but chose not to comment. "And? What do you want to eat?"

"Give me a couple of mangoes, I'll roast them."

"Are you going to roast now?"

"I'm Maui." He gave her a brief look. She rolled her eyes and tossed them over her shoulder so he could catch them.

The demigod caught them with one hand and his hook with the other. He brought them to his face and blew into his palm. Moana ignored him and kept scouring.

"I could approach the supply house for fish." When she didn’t receive an answer, she looked at Maui, and he shook his head, still breathing and looking at her out of the corner of his eye. "What are you doing?"

She crawled curiously to him and stared at him with wide-eyed eyes. Maui continued to blow a few more seconds and lowered his hand to show her. The scent spread throughout the room, and Moana breathed in as she recognized the sweet essence.

"That's unbelievable," she said numbly, he smiled timidly, dismissing it.

"It's a simple trick, if you gave me a basket of mangoes I could make you a cake." He winked and she laughed.

"What else do you want? I don’t want you to go hungry."

"I'm fine, I'm more worried about you."

"I'm fine too." She grabbed one of the mangoes and gasped at the heat. She tossed the fruit from one hand to the other until Maui caught it mid-toss. After a couple of seconds he gave it back to her and it was already colder.

"Thank you."

Carefully she took it to her mouth and bit it, moaning at the taste. The mango wasn’t her favorite meal but this was really good, would Maui have sweetened the flavor with his magic? Maui did the same and finished the fruit in a couple of bites.

"Did your parents say anything?" He asked, wanting to keep some conversation between them.

"Not much, dad insists that tomorrow we have to check the port, rains or not. I have already told him that boats don’t usually approach with a storm for fear of hitting the reef but he still won’t change his mind. "She gave the fruit another bite. "Oh, and mom has asked me to say hello on her part and to see if we are going to eat dinner with them soon."

"I hope this time is not to argue."

"When don’t we argue when we’re in the same room?" she asked with an exasperated sigh. Seeing that good humor was beginning to wane, Maui gave her a gentle shove with his foot.

"I wish I could help you more."

"You do a lot." He grimaced unbelievingly, but Moana nodded. "No, I mean it, having someone when you get home to share the experiences of the day is a lot of help. At least for me." She stared at the floor. "I've spent too much time alone, at first I had Pua but "she smiled "you know. I've always wanted to have a friend to talk with, someone who could really understand me and give me an opinion. When my grandmother died I lost that person and my whole life suddenly went crazy. I can count on my parents, I know, but it's not the same, my grandmother was different, I could tell her things that I had to hide from my parents." She looked into his eyes. "I lost her, I miss her, but I got you and that has helped me a lot. Despite our differences," she laughed," we always end up together in the end.

"I know how you feel." He bent and grabbed her hand. "I'm glad to have you too, and to be there for you." A flinch came as Mini Maui cheered him up with his elbow. "We are both there for you."

"Thank you." She looked down at the tattoo, "both of you”

Maui looked at her for a few minutes and held out a hand.

"Give me a coconut." She smiled at him, reaching for one.

"Another little trick of yours?"

"I heard your favorite food is coconut shrimp," Moana nodded.

"And yours?"

"The shrimp." He accepted the object and set the hook on his leg, in contact with his skin. "There were no coconuts on the island where I was so I fed mostly on fish and shrimp. I developed a taste for them."

He waved the coconut in the air next to his ear and after a few seconds gave a little shout of joy and opened it as if it were a soft fruit. Moana opened her eyes and gasped in surprise, not only for the strength of Maui, what she already knew, but because the coconut inside was full of huge shrimp.

"It's fantastic!" Maui give it to her with an insinuating smile.

"And it's not the best trick I know." He winked and she blushed without being able to suppress a laugh.

"We have all night for the demigod Maui to show all his arsenal" she brought a shrimp to her mouth and swooned at the flavor, this was undoubtedly a work of magic.

"Ha! Young lady, that would take more than one night." Moana smiled.

"You have every night of my life," she shot back. Maui blinked and smiled back affectionately.

He set the hook to one side and crawled toward her, lifting one of her feet to lay it on his lap. She gave him a questioning look, but he simply began massaging her foot gently, letting her eat in peace. Moana moaned at the touch on the sole of her foot and squirmed on the spot, chewing another piece of seafood.

Tasting piece by piece with great pleasure, leaving Maui to take charge of the situation. Slowly she held out a shrimp to him and he bent to take it from her fingers, taking advantage of it to give her a little kiss on her fingertips or in the palm of her hand. Once they finished, she set the coconut shell to one side and climbed into his lap to wrap around his shoulders and kiss him.

"Nobody told me you were so romantic"

"Don’t say it aloud, I have an image to look after." He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her toward him.

"I'm sure no one would believe me." She kissed him again, after a long, long kiss. Maui spoke to her lips.

"I have one last trick for the night." He raised his hand and with a quick gesture, the breeze blew out the torch that lit the room. Moana blinked in the darkness waiting for her eyes to get used to the night, but before she did, Maui moved beneath her and the next moment, the room brightened up with dozens of small points of light falling from the ceiling to disappear before falling to the ground.

Moana opened her mouth in surprise, looking around.

"What are they?" she asked, releasing herself from the demigod's neck to try to grab one of the lights. It disappeared in her palm, leaving behind a pearly golden glow and a small sensation of heat. "It feels... warm."

"They are bits of my magic." He smiled at her. "I can make it look like this for a certain period of time. It's a silly and insignificant trick... but I like the effect." he said staring at her face. The little lights made her skin shine, her eyes sparkling with golden flashes. It was worth using his magic for something like that, just for her.

"I love it," she whispered without ceasing to look at their room with admiration.

"I love you, Moana," he said in a whisper. Moana stopped looking around and stared at him in a mixture of surprise and affection.

"I love you too," she returned the warm words with all the feeling in her heart. She framed his face with her hands and caressed his cheeks with the thumbs, Maui tightened the grip on her waist.

Like this, if they could just stay like this for the rest of their lives, for all eternity. Nothing else was necessary, this was enough.

They kissed again, melting into each other's heat. Moana moaned into his mouth and leaned back, forcing Maui to recline and lie down next to her in the nest of blankets where they had sat. She wasted no time and lowered her hands down his chest, brushing his pectorals and all his torso until she reached his skirt of leaves.

"If I hurt you," Maui began in a worried tone.

"Sharkead," she whispered against his lips to kiss him again. Maui complained into her mouth, concerned about the minor importance that was giving Moana to the situation but the only response of the young woman was to slide the knot of his skirt and that all the material fell free around them.

"You're a bad person," he growled, kissing her hard. She smiled at the kiss and unashamedly clutched his limp erection with her hands, moving them up and down, letting it get harder between her fingers. Maui moaned and stroked one of her breasts above her feather top. Slowly he dropped to the side so he could get access to the ropes that bound her clothes. Moana let herself be undressed between kisses and caresses under the attentive hands of the demigod. She wrapped his wide waist with one leg and Maui took the opportunity to slip his hand under her skirt and run all over her thigh to tighten her buttock needily.

Once they got rid of the top of her dress, she tugged at the knot on her skirt, but before she had time to raise her hips and pull it out from under her, Maui cut off the kiss and began to descend down her body with wet kisses and precise licks, leaving her impotent with his touch and his caresses. His long, broad tongue played with her nipples, tasting them with an almost animal grunt.

"So beautiful," he growled against her skin before nibbling on her nipple until it hardened in his teeth. He kissed and licked it to calm it down and proceeded down her chest kissing every crack in her skin, playing with her navel to make her laugh and moan at the same time and jerked the skirt tossing it across the room.

He stroked her legs and gave them a gentle touch.

"Open up for me, little one."

Moana blushed and covered her face with her arms but obeyed and opened her legs slowly, dragging her feet down the floor until her thighs were completely separated giving the demigod the best of views.

Maui swallowed and stroked his thumb from her entrance to her clit. Moana groaned and writhed at the touch.

"I thought we were going to do something else today," she murmured in a trembling voice.

"We have all night," Maui replied, still staring at her pinkish cocoon. She was so beautiful.

With his index and ring finger he played with her lips and surrounded her entrance returning to do the same course as before. Little by little Moana dampened before his eyes, provoking in him a voracious hunger. He opened her folds with the fingers to observe her entrance carefully; There was the small and sensitive barrier that was going to have to break tonight. His eyes narrowed in annoyance at the idea of the possible pain he would cause her and mentally measuring if he had created enough cream to relieve the burning during the night. He had brought plenty of grease and oil so that he could glide smoothly but knew that wasn’t going to be enough; He had to prepare her conscientiously to take him.

"Maui?" She asked self-consciously. He ignored her, knowing that a possible scrutiny on his part might have made her uncomfortable. Without another word he descended on her vulva and let his tongue lick the whole surface. The moan of pleasure wasn’t long in coming, and soon her hands were back in his hair like so many other times that he had given her pleasure with his mouth.

He gave a small groan of pain as Moana dug her nails into his scalp after a curl he did with the tip of his tongue. No doubt he was going to end the night looking fresh out of a fight with a beast; Full of scars and blood, but his chest puffed with pride. He had to grab her thighs as they jerked against his ears, no matter how often Moana apologized in moans and sobs as she was unable to control her own body.

"Wait," she gasped hoarsely, Maui continued. "Wait, Maui, please." He stopped abruptly, raising his head to look at her. Moana hadn’t said the safety word but a ‘ _please’_ was just as efficient for him.

"Am I hurting you?" He asked with a worried look.

"No." She breathed heavily. "It's not that." She took another breath and sat up on her elbows."I want to do it too."

Maui frowned and his stomach contracted, was she saying what he thought she was saying?

"At the same time?"

"Yeah... I've thought about it, maybe if you lie down and put me on top..."

His dick jerked and he had to hold his breath so he didn’t have a shameful moment right then.

"You just discovered what I call the _inverse hook_ ," quipped Maui, swallowing again.

"The _inverse hook_?"

"I'll draw you a picture tomorrow." He lay down beside her, opening his arms in anticipation.

She looked for a few seconds at the place where she supposedly had to climb and frowned at the collar of sharp fangs.

"Moana?"

"Humm, wouldn't it be better...?" she pointed at his neck. Maui brought a hand to the area and was surprised to notice the necklace. He hardly noticed it during the day.

"Yes, you're right," he laughed, pulling it off his head carefully through his curls. He tossed it to the side of the room. "Now come, get over here."

Moana didn’t bother to pray and she put a leg over his torso with her back turned to him and looked down somewhat nervous. She had never tried this posture and being so on top of Maui made her a little nervous and, somewhat, embarrassed.

"Put your legs on each side of my head, as if you were sitting on my face," he instructed.

"Maui!" She cried out completely red with embarrassment.

"What? It was you who proposed it."

"Shut up!" He gave her a look full of insinuations.

"Make me."

With an annoying grimace, she sat abruptly on his face.

"I hope you drown," she growled. Her small success ended when that concise tongue began to traverse that sensitive mound, making her tilt her head back with pleasure.

She leaned forward and grabbed his cock with one hand. She stroked it up and down, squeezing the base of his glans to see the pearly drop emanating from the tip. She stuck out her tongue and gave it a long lick, wiping it with a smile. The taste spread through her mouth making her moan, Maui was salty and musky, his skin soft and hard at the same time. She sucked at the head of his cock and thrust it into her mouth. From the position, he slid unceremoniously down her throat until it was almost halfway through the erection, causing Maui to stop his work and stiffen beneath her with a roar.

"Mo, don’t make me cum, okay? If I cum, we will have to wait a long time until we can continue" as a single response, and revenge, she began a slow and long swing focused only to see how deep it could enter her throat before feeling that prick of pain.

She heard him curse under his breath and squirm under her, which she took with great personal pleasure. She was making the demigod Maui, hero of legends, shake with pleasure at her touch. He soon took his revenge by continuing his own caresses by helping his hands to grab her buttocks and play with them or bring her closer to his mouth with which he was slowly killing her.

The heat soon spread across Moana's bottom, and her whole body tensed from the rising wave that ended with orgasm.

"Maui," she warned him, he ignored her. "Maui- I'm..." His tongue picked up, and she clutched at the first thing she found, which turned out to be the demigod's member. Even so, he didn’t stop. "Maui, by the gods!"

She rested her head on his pelvis clutching hard at his erection and digging the nails of her other hand into the tattooed thigh. His legs began to tremble and her gaze became more and more blurred until she could only see spots of color in a dark world and, suddenly, nothing. Her body stopped reacting and dropped on it like a puppet with the strings cut.

Minutes later she began to listen to Maui speak.

"Everything good over there?" He said mockingly. Moana rose and glared over her shoulder. "What? Oh, come on, I know you loved it."

"But you said we couldn’t cum."

"I mean me, women can have a lot of orgasms in a row. If I finish it we will have a difficult time continuing." Moana swallowed, still feeling small tembleques for her climax. "Besides, it is good that you have done it, now you will be more relaxed for the next thing."

She tensed with the weight of the words.

"Are we going to do it now?"

"If you want to, we don’t have to do it, you know that."

"No, it's okay, I want to continue, what should I do?"

"There." Maui pointed to a basket with his hand in the corner of the room. "If you can get up," he joked, Moana imitated him mockingly with a childish tone, "bring it close to me."

She didn’t have to get up, because just by leaning and raising her arm she managed to grab it and draw it towards them. Maui thanked her and took a small pot carefully from the inside.

"What is that?" Moana asked. Maui held it out for her to smell, and she threw her head back as she smelled the thick bitter liquid.

"It's a recipe from one of the islands millennia ago. I don’t even know if it has already been lost but it has worked best with me."

"What we do with that? Eat it? It smells terrible." Maui laughed.

"No, you don’t eat it, stick two fingers." She obeyed stroking the sticky surface and rubbed her fingers, noticing how easily they slipped. "You must put it on me, so it will be less painful and easier."

"If we use this, it will not hurt?"

"It will hurt, we can’t change it, but it will help a lot." She nodded sympathetically.

"How do we do it?"

"Turn around." Moana turned to face him, hands on his chest waiting for instructions. "There are a lot of positions but for the first time I think it is appropriate that you are on top, so you can control the rhythm and how you want to do it."

"But I have no experience, I don’t know what to do."

"All you have to do is sit on top of it, it's just that with this position you can take your time and do it as slowly as you are comfortable. If you find it too much you can stop at any time."

"Okay... what do I do now?" She swallowed nervously.

"Relax, okay? It's better if you're not nervous, everything's going to be alright." He waited for confirmation and nodded. "Pull back." He reached into the pot and waited for her to move to caress his limb until it regained the total hardness that had subsided during their talk.

The fact that Moana was so nervous wasn’t the most exciting thing to maintain his erection, he hoped that soon her doubts and fears would dissipate. Once he was totally hard and slippery enough he took his hand away.

"Come on, get over here."

Maui was so large, so wide, that Moana could barely reach the floor with her toes even if she stretched her legs to the maximum, so she had to kneel on his hips and lay her hands on his chest, waiting for further instructions. Maui slipped his wet hand between her thighs and stroked the area around with the remains of the cream. Moana thanked the gesture with a nervous smile, he grabbed the base of his member and looked it in her eyes.

"Come down now, slowly."

"Okay," she said with a whisper.

"No, Moana, seriously, slow. If you don’t go slow you'll hurt both of us."

"That doesn’t help," she growled, but she obeyed anyway by dropping softly against the velvety surface.

His cock pushed through the folds between her thighs and gently traversed the ring around the entrance. Moana tensed when she noticed the painful impediment that prevented her from continuing and stared nervously at Maui.

"Breathe," he said, starting to breathe softly for her to imitate him. "That's right, keep breathing."

Imitating Maui's breath, she dropped her weight on his erection and felt the barrier disappear with an intense shot of pain. She gasped at herself and dug her nails into Maui’s pectorals. He released the base of his erection and brought a hand to her back, his heart in a fist.

"Mo? Are you okay?" Moana sucked in air a few times and nodded even though her limbs trembled with sudden pain. "I'm sorry," Maui whispered, placing his hand on her hip, stroking it with a thumb in an attempt to relax her.

"It’s okay, I'm fine." After a few seconds, she smiled fondly at Maui.

He smiled back, still a little worried, but she ignored him and kept coming down. She reached a point where she put her hand to her stomach from the sudden pressure, was so deep that she could feel it inside her and she not even reached the end. She continued more slowly, accompanying it from time to time from a swing to get accustomed, until she was fully seated in it and gave a long sigh of relief.

"Take your time now," Maui whispered, still caressing her. "If you need more cream just ask for it, okay?" Moana nodded again and raised her head to look at him.

"What do I do now?"

"When you have relaxed, move up and down. Do it at your own pace." She nodded again, causing her hair to fall on one side of her face. Maui gently pushed it aside, not wanting to lose sight of a glimpse of her face.

After a few minutes of relaxation Moana raised her hips with a small hiss and dropped abruptly. This time a wave of immense pleasure swept down her spine, her back arching with a groan of ecstasy. Maui gained confidence with that reaction and smiled.

"That's it, curly." Moana looked at him with a surprised, wordless look. She had never really believed that such a sensation could exist. "Go on, you're doing fine," he urged.

Still staring into his eyes, she began a timid upward and downward movement. Despite her lack of experience and awkward start, the pleasure was spreading through every nerve and pore of her skin. Her nails dug into his tattooed chest every time the huge erection inside her bumped into her inner walls, making her groan and gasp. It was so crowded. It felt so good.

But it wasn’t enough and her legs soon became tired. She leaned forward, leaning her head against Maui's chest, trying to catch her breath, her breathing quick and nervous.

"Do you want to change position?" Maui asked patiently. She pushed aside the damp dark strands that clung to her forehead, tucked them behind her ear, and nodded decisively.

"I'm a bit tired," she admitted.

"If you want to stop we can do it." She let out a funny snort.

"What I mean is that now I'd like to be the one who are enjoying it while you're working." Maui couldn’t help laughing and came over to kiss her. He leaned forward, holding her in his arms and grabbed her waist to help her rock up and down while still kissing her. Moana groaned into his mouth, her ankles sticking to his hips with every movement and her nails digging into his shoulders whenever his dick got into her body unmercifully.  
  


  
She ended up cutting the kiss, out of breath and rested her head on his chest, letting him take her again and again with fury, sinking into the depths of her being.

"I love you, Mo," she heard Maui whisper into her ear. She wrapped her arms around his neck and moaned. Now she understood what Maui had wanted to tell her for so long, she understood perfectly why he had refused to take her when she asked. These feelings in her body, this union that began in her physical body and extended to the spiritual... After years of sharing his body with strangers that never reached his heart, Maui had preferred to stay away from relationships, both sentimental and physical. She had asked for sex, not out of love, but out of curiosity. If he had accepted, if he had _loved_ her, he might have been as fortunate as he had been in the past, and he would have ended rejected by another mortal whom he was supposed to love. Maui would be left again from that love that had been asked and given. Maui had loved her for a long time, more than she knew, such a contact would have led to their supposed friendship to something deeper and unfamiliar to her. Something that she wasn’t prepared for, not like now, this union, this feeling of Maui around her, inside her, couldn't’ have coped with being more inexperienced and ignorant of her feelings. Maui had been terrified of losing her, would have preferred to love her from afar, while she was happy, than destroy any future for their friendship. But she loved him, she was sure of it, and now that she felt every pore of his skin against hers, the excited beating of their hearts in unison, his breathing inches from her own and the sweat and fluids shared from one body to another, she was aware that Maui had been wrong for many years: she would never be able to love another being in the same way that she loved him.

The agony spread through her body and a cry was born in her throat. She twisted into the arms around her and her back arched causing her hair to cascade down her bare chest. Wave after wave of immense pleasure shook her body like never before. It was Maui who had to hold her so that her body didn’t fall back onto the floor, and held her against his chest, letting her tremble in his arms.

"Shhh, I have you," he whispered against her temple, giving her a soft kiss. His touch was warm and comforting despite the husky touch of his voice. She felt how she was thrown back to lie in the sea of bedding. The lights glowed around her lighting the scene but she was unable to recognize the shapes of her surroundings until a huge dark figure leaned toward her.

"Maui" he heard, barely recognized her voice, drowned by the pain and the stinging in the throat from the excessive use. He kissed her gently and brushed her lips with his tongue. As soon as she felt the pressure, she opened her mouth and swallowed the water that Maui was offering. As the seconds passed she regained consciousness until her eyes were able to distinguish the half-smile of the demigod.

"Are you okay?" She nodded in silence and he brushed the hair back from her face. "We'd better stop for today."

Moana raised an eyebrow and squeezed her internal muscles with a half-smile, pleased as she watched how Maui tensed and moaned.

"I've been through storms stronger than this." Maui blinked in surprise and satisfaction. Seeing her almost faint with her second orgasm had taken for granted that the night was coming to an end for them. He'd had to struggle with every fiber of his being when the pressure around him increased to almost lead him to madness for the need to climax, but Moana hadn’t been aware and that would have been something horrible and crawling. He held her until she came back to herself, gave her water, and waited for her to admit that it had been enough. It was her first time and a mortal, he hadn’t expected her to have the energy and strength to endure a demigod. He had been wrong again, Moana was unique.

"If you insist," he grabbed her hips, lifting her so he could get a better position, and gave the first thrust, pulling out a piercing moan from her. He stopped suddenly frightened, his gaze fixed on her face for some wince. Instead, Moana frowned at him, pressing him hard with her ankles to his hips.

"Don’t you dare stop!"

Maui chuckled.

"At your service, chief."

It's the last thing Moana remembered hearing before Maui became a beast. His thrusts were deep and rapid, practiced and precise. He knew, at every moment where to touch so that her vision would cloud. The grip on her waist was strong and steady, keeping her in place despite the imposing thrust her body received. Pure muscle and fiber crashing against her again and again, crying out and groaning in ecstasy. Tears streamed down her cheeks as her body wrapped in flames. Maui was too hot, it was too hard, too strong, too much... too much...

She screamed, throwing her head back when another orgasm shook her with uncontrolled force. Maui leaned forward with a groan as he felt the narrow walls squeeze tightly around him, undulating his own culm. His hips jerked frantically, riding the last bits of his climax until his whole body relaxed in a nervous tremor. Realizing the situation, he raised his head to look at Moana between his long curtains of dark curls. She lay limp, her face to one side, her cheeks red and moist with sweat and tears, her strands of hair stuck to her forehead and her complexion, her breathing was agitated and uneven and she had a huge mark of a bite on her neck. Had he bitten her? when?

"Mo?" He swallowed and closed his eyes with a grunt as his body convulsed with a jolt of pleasure. He tried to calm his breathing and fixed his gaze on her again.

This time she seemed to react, for she blinked, and her face turned slightly to meet him with a languid, contented smile. Maui smiled back with a sigh of relief, raised his hand and brushed a tear from her cheek. She snuggled into the touch with a snort of pleasure.

After a last kiss, Maui backed away to look down where they were still physically and intimately united. With all the care and slowness he could, he pulled out of her without looking away. When he had left completely Moana gasped and a rosaceous liquid began to emanate gushing from her, Maui made a grimace annoyed by the amount of blood and turned away.

He dropped her legs gently on the sheets and grabbed the basket. He took out a couple of coconut shells and filled one with water, which warmed up with a little touch of his magic. He moistened a cloth and crawled back toward her. He cleaned her with scrutiny and care, rinsed her thighs and skin around before leaving the rag to one side and picking up the other coconut shell. He covered his fingers with the green paste and touched the wounded surface between her thighs. Moana gasped at the sudden stinging.

"I know, I'm sorry, this will help."

"I'm fine."

Maui grunted, showing how unconvinced he was. Moana had behaved like a real warrior, but every warrior must heal their wounds later. After a couple more touches he felt satisfied with the healing and returned for more water for her and to cleanse himself. He helped her drink some water and lay down beside her, pulling dark strands of hair from her face.

She was so beautiful, so perfect.

Moana crawled into his arms, where he rocked her and held her until she fell asleep with a smile on her lips. The lights in the room began to disappear as soon as Maui closed his eyes and joined her.

 

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked this chapter!
> 
> Fanarts
> 
> [Moana tattoos](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/post/163457196726/moana-tattoos-request-of-kayti-for-the-fic) by [MagicFishHook](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/) . Request to Kayti. Glad you liked it!  
> ["I love you , Mo"](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/post/163613003781/i-love-you-mo-fanart-for-the-fic-fire-and) by [MagicFishHook](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/)  
> ["I want to do it"](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/post/165086974556/i-want-to-do-it-request-for-alondradelpuerto) by [MagicFishHook](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/) Request to Alondradelpuerto
> 
>  
> 
> Explanation of content:
> 
> \- The comment "If you are going to eat a human you prefer to eat it knowing that nobody has fucked it before." Is a nod to our beloved Tamatoa (Jemaine Clement) in the film What We Do in the Shadows. I highly recommend it.  
> \- The "inverse hook" is 69. Since they lack the modern numbering I thought that the hook, since it is Maui of whom we’re talking about, would make more sense since it has a shape of 6 or 9.  
> \- As always, the history of Maui is invented.  
> -The island of Maui, the island of the stars on Moana’s little hook. The island is no longer there, only the ocean remains and is where Moana finds him flying in chapter 3, after their marriage.  
> \- The favorite food of both of them (Shrimp and shrimp with coconut), vanilla tea and the fact that Moana doesn’t know the snow, are taken from the Moana Island Life app game. So you can say that it is "official". Highly recommend that game for any Moana lover, is quite boring sometimes but when you level ups Moana and Maui have nice and cute conversations.  
> -The balsam of matua pua'a is for the pain. But the source does not specify whether physical or headache. I have put it in to give details.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! This chapter is a bit shorter than the previous one, it's like going back to the beginning but I still have a good 10,000 words per chapter, as I like.  
> Thank you very much for all the reviews and for helping me with the translation problems, I am learning a lot with you and I don’t know how to thank you.
> 
> There is a small surprise in this chapter... Not really a surprise, but this chapter is important because of a detail that you will probably discover in the following chapters. I will not give clues or spoilers in the comments but you can leave your idea to see if you have found it.
> 
> Happy hunting!

Moana blinked sleepily and stirred in the blankets. She hadn’t felt so relaxed and rested for some time, but she felt something wasn’t right. She frowned, her eyes narrowed, and she dragged her hand through the empty void at her side. She sat up with a jerk, covering her naked body and had to suppress a groan as the lower part of her stomach pulsed with a sting.

Then she noticed a figure at her side and saw Maui sitting back to her with something in his hands. From the height of sun that came in the morning, she could see that it was quite late but no one had come to look for them, surely he would have taken care of everything. His hair was loose on his shoulders and he seemed to be quite busy with the way he moved. She could see the huge whitish scar on his left arm that he got in his fight with the Lalotai's monster, she knew it was going to end up disappearing but it was still a brutal remembrance of that day.

"Maui?" He gave a start and turned to face her.

"Mo! Good Morning! I have made tea, but now it will be cold. One moment." Moana blinked as Maui spoke with a sleepy accent and his smile showed his teeth.

"You have a green mouth," she said. Maui got up to sit next to her again and warm the tea with a touch of his hand. It didn’t escape for her that he already had the leaves skirt in place. He made a gesture for her to accept it and she took a sip: vanilla tea.

"Why do you have a green mouth?" She insisted. He smiled again and spat in a coconut shell that he began to stir with his fingers.

"It’s an ointment that I am preparing with some leaves that I went to collect this morning" he said in the same clumsy accent, pointing behind him with his head. Moana leaned over and exclaimed.

"Maui, those plants are poisonous!"

"Only if you eat them, they have good properties for the skin."

"You have them right in your mouth, you idiot!" She shouted, and Maui laughed, showing his green teeth.

"I'm not going to die by nibbling on poisonous plants, I just get a little numbness in my mouth. Come on, give me your hand." Moana held out her arm and he applied some of the paste to her skin. After waiting a few seconds he wiped the substance with a cloth carefully and, without even giving her a warning, he gave her what seemed like a strong pinch. Moana gasped a sound of an insult and a shout, but her voice remained in her mouth; It had been an impression to see Maui do that but the touch hadn’t hurt at all, indeed, she hadn’t even felt it.

"This is... amazing. Where did you get it from?" Maui, who had been nibbling a little more, spit on the coconut again.

"They taught me so many years ago in my demigod classes."

"Demigod classes?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, when I learned to shapeshift and use the hook, do you think I was born knowing everything?" he smiled halfway, she smiled back.

"You are the mighty Maui, anyone would suppose you were born beating monsters."

"Yeah, well, you're my biographer, you must know the truth." She let out a snort.

"And why did you make this? Are you injured?" She took another sip of tea, looking at him for any wound. She couldn’t help but see some of the other superficial scratches and redness as she realized that it was she who had broken his skin with her nails last night, but they didn’t look so deep as to make an ointment for it.

"It's not for me, it's for you." Moana looked at him in surprise and then flushed with memories of the night before.

"I'm fine, Maui... you don't have to."

"Believe me, it's necessary if you want to get out of bed today."

Moana blushed again and took another sip.

"Speaking of getting up, haven’t my parents come to ask where I am?" Maui laughed.

"It's almost lunchtime, I've been working with them all morning."

"Maui! What excuses have you given them? By the gods, they must know everything." She rested her forehead on her knees, not knowing where to hide.

"No, no," he laughed. "I told them that you got a little cold yesterday when you went to help Alepati."

"Then they don’t know... that?" Her shyness made him groan with affection.

"No, don’t worry. For the rest of the world you only have a little cold. Your mother helped me find a couple of plants for your medicines and I'm sure she didn’t know what it was for. I told them you were asleep so they wouldn’t come."

"Thank you," she murmured timidly.

"When you want," he said, leaning over to kiss her on the shoulder. "Now listen to me, you must put this on. The effects will last for a couple of hours, will relieve the pain and prevent a possible infection. It is recommended that you use it on clean skin clean."

She blushed again.

"I should go to the river then..."

"No, I took care last night. But if you want to put it on later you should clean it up sooner. It will sting for a few seconds when you apply it but you will feel better right away." He frowned and gently pushed her hair back to look at her shoulder. He snapped his tongue.

"What's up?"

"I bit you last night, it's a little red, does it hurt?" Moana put her hand to the place where her shoulder met  her neck, but she shook her head.

"I didn’t even notice it." She stared at him, looking for more wounds. "You also have-" she didn’t know how to finish the sentence, scratches? wounds? bites? Maui pumped his breast proudly and tossed his hair back with a nod.

"They're war-wounds." She snorted and shook her head, finishing her tea in another sip. Maui gave her the coconut shell with the medicine.

"Thank you."

Maui watched her in silence for a few minutes,  but by the look on his face, it was obvious he was thinking about whether or not he could ask her something. She gave him a worried look that gave a clear answer to his dumb question.

"Did you like it?"

Moana was thankful that she had finished her drink or she would spat it all over his face. She laughed crimson-faced and nodded.

"Yes, Maui, a lot... and you?"

"I loved it." He moved a little closer to her and took her hand in his. "Although I must admit that you surprised me, I didn’t think you could handle it so much."

"Ha ha," she scoffed bitterly.

"No, I'm serious, I'm not laughing."

She smiled in a thoughtful way.

"I told you." She stuck out her tongue. Maui restrained the impulse of bite it, still felt like his tongue hardly responded  because of the plants that he had chewed.

"Put the ointment on, I'm going to go clean my mouth before my brain falls asleep." He stood up.

"A little late for that." Maui shrugged off the mock with a sneer and went to the door. Moana stopped him as she called his name and he looked over his shoulder at her, waiting for her to continue. "I understand why you did it," she admitted, he looked at her with surprise, "about not wanting to sleep with me. When you do it with someone you love is... deeper. You had your reasons and your fears, I know you did it to avoid possible harm." She looked up, directly into his eyes. "But you were wrong; I loved you then and I love you now, that will not change."

Maui turned to her and in a couple of strides he knelt and hugged her. Moana responded warmly to the embrace and clung tightly to his neck. As he pulled away, he brought two fingers to her lips and passed them gently, a caress like the kiss he wanted to give her at that moment.

"I'll be back in a bit, I'll see how the port goes too. Put the cream on and eat something, I'll tell your parents that you're awake." He sat up, but stopped to look at her again. "I love you, Moana."

With one last caress on her cheek he got up and left.

Moana made sure he was gone and pushed the sheet away from her body, opening her legs. The first thing she felt was the stabbing pain as her lips parted. She was red and quite swollen but, as her partner had said, clean and without any traces of blood or fluids. She picked up the coconut and stuck her fingers into the dough, carefully running her fingers across herself, she let out a little gasp from the sting, but it disappeared within seconds and left a refreshing sensation that relaxed her muscles. If she hadn’t been so grateful for this remedy she would have run off to hit Maui for not giving it to her when she got the tattoos.

 

* * *

 

That same afternoon, after a late lunch with Maui, she decided to leave the house to continue her duties despite the complaints of her mother asking her to rest for her supposed cold. Moana didn't have the heart to tell her the truth but said she was perfectly fine, and it wasn’t a lie, Maui’s medicine was an effective and long-lasting remedy. The problem appeared when the effects subsided and the demigod prevented her from applying more up to a certain time because of possible problems with irritation, although Moana already felt those same effects without the ointment. Since she returned to her daily duties, Maui did the same with his and soon returned to the port side surrounded by his fans and admirers. Sometimes she could find herself gazing into the crowd with the desire to glimpse some part of her husband in the gathering.

For the next two days Maui and her devoted themselves to talking and staying together in caresses and kisses with no other intention of demonstrating their mutual love and affection. Maui had demanded that she rest for a while, ignoring her objections. Moana hadn’t agreed, saying that she was tougher than he believed, but she really appreciated that he was so careful with her and decided to give up the fight and accept that she should take some time off. Anyway, she had her whole life to spend in their bed.

It was the third day, about lunchtime, when something caught her eye. She was with her parents eating quietly when she looked up in search of her love. There, in the distance, as always, was Maui with Siaki and a couple of children from his old class, but that was not what had caught her attention: Arona was there too. She hadn’t seen her since the night they had attended the birth of her son. It had been difficult, bloody and, as far as she could see, quite painful. Arona had ended up completely exhausted and Siaki was on the brink of hysteria for fear of losing his wife. It took hours of healers and plant medicines to finally make him believe that she would be safe. Moana had decided to take over the school for as long as she needed to rest and get back to her duties. Having a baby wasn’t an easy task, and she knew that the first mother-child bonds formed these first periods of time together. And there she was, back in the tribe as if she had never left, and besides, she wasn’t alone, for in her arms there was a little mess of blankets with hands that appeared to have an obviously annoyed attitude. She saw them talking in the distance and Maui had a radiant smile, after an exchange of words and a laugh, Maui looked bewildered for a moment. Seconds later Arona stood up, went towards him and, with all the care of the world, placed her baby in the huge hands of the demigod. Moana would never forget the look in Maui's eyes as he held the little creature in his arms, seemed transfixed and entranced, astonished by the fragility of that tiny being. It was then that something harsh and unpleasant appeared in Moana’s chest, a bitter and sad feeling to see all that love in those big and crystalline dark eyes. For a long moment Maui stared at the baby and suddenly looked up at her, his smile increased and he nodded toward the baby as if she hadn’t noticed him. He didn’t realize the bitterness that gripped her at that moment as she tried, with all her strength, to return the radiant smile. Maui waved again, but she refused to get up and turned her face as if answering a question from her mother.

That scene appeared again in her head in these moments. She had calculated the days monthly from her first time menstruating so many years ago. That morning she had said goodbye to Maui with a kiss and had gone up to the river with the rag for those days so that she could cleanse herself and have some privacy. Not that Maui was oblivious to the whole affair, they had been traveling together for months, even on their first trip when they first met, and he had accepted with total normality that she was a healthy young teenager who had a menstrual period. For her it had been really uncomfortable since it was something she had learned to do in secret and away from glances and Maui had been there in the same boat. At that moment she thought that he would mock and make fun of her situation but, surprisingly, he had blamed it on something normal and human that had to be respected and not subject to humiliation, he had left her as alone as he could and had sitting back away from her until she could finish her chores. That didn’t mean that now that she was back home, she would do it in the hut instead of in the river where she could have an unlimited resource of clear water and seize the moment for a bath. But now she was there, standing on the bank of the river with her skirt laying to one side on the rocks and the cloth in her hand, and she was unable to ascertain whether she was in her period.

It had been almost a week since their full sexual relationship and three days since she had seen Maui with Arona and Siaki's baby in his arms. During those days, her mind had flown into the fantasy of a world where that union had come to something and her mind had played several passes feeling the symptoms that other pregnant women had described in front of her, even though those symptoms had appeared after months of pregnancy. She'd been nervous, felt fatter, even heavier and more tired, there had been times when she'd been sitting down to fantasize about what would happen if she were really special and her union with a demigod could result in a baby. Could she have a family with Maui? There had been no way to confirm whether her fantasies were true or the product of her imagination until this very moment. She knew that a pregnant woman didn’t have her period and so she was now unable to move. Today was the first day of her menstruation for that month, today was the day she would confirm whether what Maui and Tamatoa had said was entirely true or there was a possibility. Her heart had suffered for him seeing all the love he had kept, was engraved in his eyes the need for that little life to love and protect, that unconditional love for a person of his own blood and skin.

She swallowed and stepped forward. Nothing mattered: if they could have a child, if they couldn’t, this had been her decision, Maui had been her decision. She wouldn’t change that for anything or anyone, and with or without a son she would make him the happiest man on earth just as he was making her the happiest and most fortunate woman. The water ran down her thighs as she finally stopped walking and slipped the cloth between her legs. He didn’t know when she had closed her eyes, but it took her a few minutes to open them and look down.

Anger and rage exploded inside her as she saw the garment dyed red and threw the rag hard with a bitter scream, letting it get lost in the stream. Feeling helpless, she sank into the water, kneeling as she hugged herself to contain the tremors of weeping. She told herself that it wasn’t her fault, that it wasn’t Maui's fault, or the gods. This had been her own decision, she had known for years that they were going against the rules of the world by joining in a marriage that wasn’t accepted by the gods. That hadn’t been important for either of them, they loved each other, it was worth fighting for. She wondered if this was what the Maui’s old lovers had felt, that impotence and fury, restlessness and anger... And what would Maui feel? Unloved by his mother, forgotten by the humans he saved, denied by the demigods he abandoned for them, rejected by what he believed to be a love reciprocated by circumstances that he had no fault at all, destined to long for the warmth of a family that he could never have...

She brushed away a tear and gritted her teeth. She wasn’t like any of them, she totally and unconditionally loved Maui. She stood up and, with a steady pace, returned to the ground for another rag to cover herself for the rest of the day. She was Moana of Motunui, Maui of Motunui, shapeshifter, demigod of the wind and sea, hero of all was her husband and she would love him with all her being until her body returned to earth, even if she were the only one that did. She was going to prove to Maui, to the whole world, that he deserved to be loved. No matter who was opposed, whatever they had to face in their path to happiness, she wasn’t going to surrender to anyone.

When she arrived home, Maui was already awake preparing for the day. He smiled when he saw her and gave her a warm welcome, which subsided a little when he saw her wet eyes. Moana said nothing and instead smiled back and kissed him with enthusiasm.

"Good Morning! Have you had breakfast yet?" She asked against his mouth, preventing him from responding with another kiss. Maui snorted and pulled back to speak.

"Not yet, I was waiting for you, where were you?"

"Oh, you know, I've started with those days of the month." She rolled his eyes bored. "Do you know what that means?"

Maui clenched his jaw and his heart stumbled as he realized a possible why of the tears, but before he could speak Moana stood on tiptoe to try to stay at his height and said with a joking tone and an insinuating smile:

"That I can be a whole week training my mouth." When she finished she bite his nose mockingly, making the demigod smile.

"Oh well, we'll start whenever you want, princess," the joke continued slyly. Moana lowered her hands down his chest suggestively, smiling as Mini Maui thumbed her up and she grabbed the liana from his sheet skirt, making his hips move from side to side.

"Tonight, if that's alright with you, and even if you don’t, I don’t care what you think."

"I feel like a piece of meat," he said in a dramatically hurt tone.

"You are, and you taste delicious. Now let's go for breakfast." Moana turned away, but Maui grabbed her wrist and pulled her onto his chest. Once in his hands, he framed her face and kissed her.

He kissed her because he knew that she had cried, because he felt terrible about that, because he loved her, because he hated himself, because he regretted loving her, because he was scared, because he was afraid, because she was the most perfect woman in this universe and he didn’t deserve her, but above all, he kissed her because he knew she loved him and couldn’t thank her otherwise. He would make her happy in all the ways that his magic, body and spirit could, he belonged to her completely.

When they parted the kiss, they looked into each other's eyes, they didn’t need the words because their hearts beat to the same beat. They were together in this adventure and nothing could be done against them.

"Go," he whispered against her lips. "I'm coming after you."

Moana licked his inner lip as a last joke and stepped out after retrieving her feather cloak and oar.

"Be gorgeous," he murmured as she walked out. It was going to be a long day, but he couldn’t wait for tonight.

 

* * *

 

She missed the ocean.

That was the first thing that came into her head every morning when her eyes were lost again on the horizon. It was a self-imposed punishment to have to visit the port every day with the call of the sea so firmly stuck in her chest. But her people came first, as chief of the tribe and as part of it.

She felt a pecking at her feet and lowered her head to find a huge Hei Hei.

"Hei Hei?" She frowned, he wasn’t normally that big.

"Hey! I don’t insult you!" Moana snorted.

"What are you doing here, Maui?"

"I wanted to see my beautiful wife this morning, I'm not allowed?" She laughed and took him in her arms, stroking his neck.

"You know you are." Maui closed his eyes, enjoying her touch. Just a few hours ago they had woken up together, entwined in a sea of limbs side by side, smiling, kissing and caressing between sighs of love. Moana had insisted on having those nights on her period, where their possibilities were limited, taking advantage of the Maui’s body as much as she wanted, making him twist between her fingers and her mouth. In return he had made her promise to let him do the same the next week.

"Mo?" Moana blinked and looked down at Maui, his huge bulging eyes staring back at her with a concern Hei Hei had been unable to express in his own face.

"I'm sorry, I was distracted. Did you say something?"

"You've been here a while, are you okay?" .

"Yes, it's just..." she looked up and stared at the horizon, letting the breeze blow through her hair and the wreath on her head. No more words were needed.

"Why don't you talk to your parents?" Moana sighed and shook her head.

"I have my duties, I must be here."

Maui turned his head to look where she was staring.

"But your place is there, the ocean misses you."

"Miss me?" she frowned uncomprehendingly. Maui looked at her again in astonishment.

"Of course it misses you, don’t you hear it?"

"I thought I was the only one who heard its call," she murmured.

"I hear it too, but it doesn’t call me, it’s calling you."

"I wish..." She clenched her jaw and bit her lip.

If she said it out loud, if she let her heart open, she knew she would take the first canoe she saw on the beach and leave it all behind, until her heart overflowed like so many other times that the sea guided her course. She decided to close her eyes and, after a couple of breaths, she calmed the palpitations in her chest and looked at Maui.

"And what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with your fans?"

"They can wait, Maui will soon appear," he peeked out from her arm to watch the crowd that had gathered at the usual point.

"Waiting for a dramatic entrance, right?"

"You know I am." He poked out his pointed tongue, chuckling. Moana couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.

Then she seemed to notice where she was and looked to her side. A couple of meters away she could see a couple of fishermen looking at her with surprise and perplexity. She grinned at them wondering what they were thinking when they saw the head of her tribe talking to a chicken.

"Don’t worry, it's Maui," she explained shakily, not knowing whether to laugh or run.

With that same bitter smile she turned her gaze to Maui, waiting for some of his help, but the animal had stared with his head to one side, his eyes trembling and empty and he gave a very realistic sonorous cooing.

"Maui!" She exclaimed annoyed. The chicken let out a half-coughing laugh.

"I was just kidding. Come on, I have to go, my audience is waiting for me. Give a kiss to your husband before he leaves," as finished speaking he brought his beak towards her with his eyes closed, opened his mouth and wiggled the small and pointed tongue suggestively.

Moana grunted and threw him unceremoniously. Maui transformed with laughter in mid-air and flew towards her in the form of a small beetle.

"Don’t even think about it," she said, raising her head authoritatively. Maui laughed again and shook his head.

"I’m serious, I have to go, will we see each other tonight?"

Moana snorted and raised her hand with a mute invitation. Maui settled on her palm and she brought it to her face and kissed his head, stroking between his antennae with her thumb.

"It's the most disgusting thing I've ever done in my life."

"More than eating that brown seaweed from that island we visited three years ago?"

"We swore we wouldn’t mention it again." Maui laughed and she blushed and shouted. "We swore!"

Both shared a smile, then the beetle spread its wings and, with a last touch on her nose, he flew towards the woods behind her. Moana sat for a few more minutes watching the sea and decided to return to her duties.

When long after she heard a recognizable cry and a crowd exploding in cheers from a distance she could only close her eyes and smile internally. There was her Maui.

 

* * *

 

When she got home that night Maui was filling up food baskets on the floor of the hut, humming while talking to Mini Maui. When he saw her, he left what he was doing and stood up to go and greet her.

"Hi," he whispered, leaning in to kiss her. It had been a long day while still looking at her from afar, being able to have her with him now, for him, was one of the little pleasures of his new life.

"Hi, what are you doing?"

"Preparing the supplies." He smiled at her and turned to continue his work by sitting down to keep putting the food in the basket.

"Supplies?" Moana frowned. "Are you going somewhere?"

"Yup, tomorrow, for a week."

"Where?" She asked in a hard tone.

"Honeymoon." She blinked in confusion.

"Honeymoon?"

"Yes, it's a vacation I've just invented for the newlyweds. You see, hummm six years ago?" he opened his eyes in surprise. "I got married. Unfortunately we couldn’t celebrate a decent wedding night and she is now terribly busy."

"You and…?" she swallowed. Maui looked at her with a smile.

"We, Mo. We leave tomorrow to spend a week at sea."

"We? Tomorrow? Maui, I have a lot to do, tomorrow there are more deliveries, new ships will arrive-" Maui raised his hand.

"I talked to your parents this morning, they think it's a fantastic idea."

"But my chores..."

"I gave the list to your father."

"What list?"

"Of all your chores. Although it may not seem like it, I listen to you when you talk to me," he made a mocking grin for all those times that Moana had told him that he wasn’t listening to her when she spoke. Every night when they met after a long day of work and duties they spent a little time talking about how the day had gone and sharing stories. Unfortunately, Moana could only talk about the amount of work she had done that day and mumble tiredly of the list she would have to do for the next day.

"But... but..." She was stunned, not knowing how to respond. Maui stopped to look at her.

"You mean you don’t want to come with me for an adventure at sea?"

"I don’t want to go? _I don’t want to go?_!" Moana took a couple of steps and threw herself into his arms.

A week of freedom. Maui was offering her, no, giving her, a week of freedom. A week where only she would be with her best friend, her partner, her lover and husband, but above all, the sea. She and the sea, the ocean, the waves, the wind in her hair, the breeze on her face, brushing her clothes, the sound of the sails beating, the water crashing against the canoe hull, the view of the horizon in front of her... and, at her side, Maui, taking her hand, his permanent presence in her heart.

She kissed him, strong, hard and needily.

"Thank you," she whispered to him, "thank you, Maui, thank you, I love you, oh gods, I love you," she repeated over and over. "When do we leave?"

"First thing in the morning," he said, not being able to avoid a bright smile.

"I can’t wait." She kissed him again, sitting on his lap and wrapping her arms around his neck. Maui took her in his arms and held her waist, pulling her closer to him.

For that smile it was worth anything.

Moana ended up moaning into his mouth, moving her hips in his lap. Maui growled, grabbing her hips, knowing what was going to happen.

"It's been almost two weeks," she moaned, still pressed against his mouth.

"I know" by the gods he knew, they'd been resting for a week after their first time and the next one she started her period, where they'd spent most nights with Moana between his legs and he trying not to hit his head against the floor every time that silky tongue played with the frenulum of his cock. He had promised her every night that he would give it back to her, that he would make her his over and over until she couldn’t remember her own name. Moana had smiled at his words and had continued her fatal touch on him until he had lost all sense of what he was saying and had ended up grunting and twisting in her fingers until he was faint.

"Please?" she whispered, lowering her hands from his shoulders to the knot of his skirt of leaves.

"Damn it, woman, you know I can’t tell you no," he complained with a smile before kissing her again. Moana gave the first tug of the rope and he put his hands on her feathered top. Two weeks, two weeks wishing to be with her with every part of his being, he couldn’t keep his hands still, he couldn’t give her time, he needed her, and a lot.

Maui lifted her so he could lay her down on the floor, still kissing her, pulling her skirt apart, trailing his fingers on her leg from her knee to her waist, tracing the lines of the tattoos on her skin.

"Do you have the cream on hand?" she asked with a hoarse groan when Maui took advantage of the fact that she had cut the kiss to bite her neck.

"It's in the basket." She let out a gasp and a snort of laughter.

"You were planning to take it with us?"

"Honeymoon, Moana, I was going to show you what a wedding night is like."

"You can do it tonight," she moaned again as Maui sucked one of her breasts.

"I thought so."

"Take it then."

"Already?" He asked, nibbling on her nipple.

"We had a whole week of foreplay, Maui, I need it already."

Maui snorted and sat up on one arm to rummage through the basket. Not finding the vessel, he frowned and crawled up to look inside. With a victorious cry he took it out but Moana was faster and snatched it from his hands.

"Hey!" he complained. Moana reached in for a decent amount of cream and grabbed his limp limb firmly. Maui closed his eyes momentarily as he felt the pressure around him and cursed under his breath. She could disarm him in a single movement. "Give me back that." He held out his hand, trying with all his strength not to let it tremble.

"I’ll trade you ," she said, bending over to steal a kiss from him and put the object in his palm. Maui rolled his eyes and put two fingers into the jar. He rubbed his fingers between them to warm the substance and put them between her thighs, she looked at him uncomprehendingly.

"This will help," he explained. "Once that barrier breaks, it's easier to open it with your fingers to improve relaxation and stretching,” he explained patiently, his voice a little husky with excitement. He rummaged through her dark curls, rubbing her clit gently in circles, and she twisted her head against his chest with a shudder. Maui rubbed his nose against her head to get her attention and Moana answered him with another kiss, playing with his lips and tongue as he continued making her moan with his digits. He caressed her entrance with his index and middle finger feeling the heat and moisture emanating from her. Carefully, he inserted his middle finger slowly, making her moan and increasing her grip on his erection.

"Did I hurt you?" she denied with a shudder, felt so good, so hot.

Maui had magical hands, that she had learned from the first moment he had touched her in this way. They were huge, warm and strong, they could tear a mountain out of the ground and caress her like a piece of fine carved wood. A few minutes later, he took out his finger and rubbed her entrance with both of them. Very, very slowly, and without taking his eyes from her face, he thrust two fingers in and rubbed her clit with his thumb to help her relax. It was as tight as the first time he made love to her but now they could take their time stretching her to accommodate him. He moved his fingers inside her, opening them and rubbing her inner walls, enjoying the warmth and wetness of her body.

Moana groaned desperately clutching her lover tightly for the jolts of pleasure and dug her nails into his skin as his digits hit the front wall of her pelvis, causing her knees to tremble and almost lose her balance. Maui laughed.

"That's a sensitive point," he explained on her lips before hitting it again and again. Moana groaned and gasped, her hips moving suggestively. "Very sensitive."

Moana reached down to remove his fingers and climbed into his lap after a couple of more jerks to his finally hard erection. Maui welcomed her, giving her a soft kiss and wrapped his hands around her waist.

"It's a little early," he said, worried.

"Shut up and do it already," she replied, holding his member up so that she could adjust over it.

He gripped her hips and kept her from lowering herself too fast, he knew her too well. Moana gasped as the member's head widened her entrance with a bitterly pleasurable burn and wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face in his neck to take a good bite of his skin and thus drown out any cry of pleasure that might attract any curious listener .

She groaned again as Maui clenched her buttocks with a low grunt as his glans finally got completely sunk into her body. The pressure inside her was exquisite and she had barely begun to sit on his lap. Slowly she was sinking deeper and deeper, moving her hips in a circle to accommodate the enormous size inside her, despite the intense pain every time he slid into her inch by inch. It was the pressure in her lower belly that made her stop minutes later.

"I can’t anymore," she gasped. "Too deep."

"Okay, take it easy." He kissed her temple, stroking her hair gently. Moana closed her eyes and sighed lowering and rising erratically trying to relax her body.

"Help me," she pleaded into his neck. Maui gripped her buttocks and began a soft, calm swaying, helping her relax and slowly turning the twinge of pain into pleasure.

"If you need more cream, let me know," he whispered, and in response he received a muffled moan and he smiled, increasing the speed of his swing. Moana quickly responded by moving her hips up and down, and before she knew it she was already groaning and panting with every thrust in her gut.

"More," she said with an embarrassed groan. Maui smiled, kissing her hair again and increased his thrusts further, Moana responded with the sweetest sounds and moans as her body began to burn between his fingers.

Soon that slow torture wasn’t enough and Moana rose to her knees to descend with all the weight of her body with the same rhythm as the thrusts of her lover. The member inside rubbed that soft spot again and again and barely left a conscious thought in her mind that wasn’t to demand more or shouting  with pleasure.

"More, Maui!" She exclaimed, throwing her head back as one of the thrusts struck her inside.

The demigod obeyed and grabbed the back of her neck, carefully dropping her to the floor, then grabbed her hips and attacked her body aggressively .

"Yes!" she moaned, wrapping his hips with her legs and desperately clinging to the rug beneath her, her fingernails breaking through the small strands of the fabric.

Their screams rumbled on the walls along with the repetitive sound of their bodies melting into one. Maui couldn’t look away from her, her beautiful features turned into a drowned cry, her eyes moist, her long neck arched and her whole body open to him, shaking in his hands. He put a hand next to her head, careful not to crush her long hair, and bent down to kiss her, still moving. They moaned in the kiss and as soon as his tongue brushed her lips Moana screamed at his kiss and dug her nails into his shoulders as the fire inside her spread through her whole being and twisted into those arms that held her against that warm body.

Maui growled as the pressure around his erection became unbearable, he knew his end was imminent. He clenched his teeth tightly and tried to control the instinct that roared inside but all the commotion was too much for him and could do nothing but growl and let the end catch up. He shrank back, holding his weight with his hand and legs so as not to crush her and stared at her with the last final thrusts. Moana returned the damp, misty look of her own pleasure as her body shook with the force of Maui's onslaught. Seconds later Maui stirred and she felt the hot liquid filling her insides and the demigod gave a last grunt.

He took a couple of agitated breaths, trying to catch his breath until he felt the pressure of soft lips at the corner of his mouth and half opened his eyes to look at the chestnut brown eyes beneath him.

"Mo? Are you ok?" She smiled at him placidly and gave a small nod. Maui sighed and sat up carefully, noticing the wet, sticky disaster between them. "Ugh… I came too much." He snorted. Moana stood up to look between her legs where they still lay, connected together.

"Something wrong?"

"Nah." He grabbed the base of his softened limb and stepped back slowly. Moana gasped as she felt the pressure inside her disappear and began to soak her thighs.

Maui turned away and went to get a cloth to clean them, not before offering Moana a coconut with water to drink, she whispered a hoarse thank you. She couldn’t help a hiss as the cloth wiped between her thighs, brushing against her flushed skin, the gesture suddenly stopped Maui and he pulled his touch away.

"Are you hurt? Do you need me to make you the ointment?" He asked worriedly.

"No, I'm fine, it's just a sting."

"Are you sure? It doesn’t cost me anything."

"I'm sure." She raised her hand, begging him to lie down beside her.

"One moment," he apologized, taking another cloth to wipe himself before crawling up to her and lying down beside her. Moana turned on the spot to crawl toward him and lean her head against his arm with a grimace as she noticed her sticky legs.

"Does it always come out so much?" She asked numbly. Maui stroked her cheek, brushing the hair from her face to give her a kiss on the forehead.

"I produce more than the rest, I'm afraid." She let out an affirmative grunt.

"My thighs are sticky," she laughed, opening and closing them, noticing how sticky the skin was.

"Ugh, I'm sorry." He sat up, but she stopped him.

"We'll take a bath tomorrow before we leave, Ma," she said with a yawn.

"Ma?" Maui grunted, frowning, not that he didn’t like the diminutive ones, but it had sounded strange to him. Moana didn’t respond and instead rubbed her sleepy face against his chest. Maui looked down at Mini Maui and he shrugged, decided to ignore it and look back at his beautiful wife. That night the demigod fell asleep after hours and hours watching her dream in silence.

 

* * *

 

"Be careful, okay?" Said her mother in her ear as she held her, holding back the tears. Her daughter was leaving the island for the first time in years. The last time she'd been away, she'd come back alone and in tears with a broken heart, and now she was leaving with the same man again. Not that she didn’t trust the demigod, it was just that she loved her daughter too much to risk it.

"I'm going back to the sea, Mom, I'm more than good. Besides," she snapped, glancing over her shoulder at her husband who was setting the sail for the boat while talking to her father cheerfully, "Maui will be with me."

Sina smiled at her, stroked her hair and let her go. Moana went to them and hugged her father. After sharing a few words in whispers and smiles, she accepted Maui's hand and climbed onto the canoe. He grabbed it and pushed it back into the water, jumping up and  heading for the horizon.

"All right, princess?" he said passing next to her and leaving the hook on the deck to sit in the stern. Moana grinned at him with a raised eyebrow and tied her hair in a bun.

"Where do you want to go?"

"There." Maui pointed to a place of the distance. She frowned, knowing what direction that was, and what she would find at the end of the journey, she had been staring at the constellation every night of her childhood and would never forget that first canoe trip.

To feel the ocean around again was a magnificent experience; The smell of the sea was intoxicating and her friend received them with joy and illusion. It was as if they had returned to the beginning, as if everything were as it should be: The ocean, her canoe, Maui and her. She didn’t want anything else. The breeze moved her skirt and she closed her eyes letting it surround her until it reached the sail, blowing hard and pushing them above the waves and beyond the reef.

Soon she noticed a presence at her side and opened her eyes to see Maui, who had taken a seat next to her and looked at her melancholically.

"What?" She said unable to hold back her laughter.

"I missed seeing you like this."

"How?"

Maui reached up and stroked her cheek with her thumb.

"On a blue background, smiling, without responsibilities."

Moana snorted.

"When have you seen me without responsibilities? I've always had something to do; Rescue the heart of Te Fiti, get the hook, discover islands, take care of my town, look for trade routes..."

"Relax," he laughed. "This trip is for us, okay? No responsibilities beyond having a good time and doing it together."

She gave him an insinuating look.

"You have responsibilities with me, husband." Maui squinted with a wolfish grin and leaned over to kiss her.

"I have them very present in my mind, my wife," his lips brushed her with a soft touch but before their mouths melted they heard a thud.

The two tensed in anticipation of a possible attack but nothing happened, they moved away a few inches from each other and then they heard another noise. At the third blow they both looked toward the deck where the compartment was. Even before Maui opened the door Moana already knew what they were going to find.

"Hei Hei..." she complained, rubbing her face with despair.

"How did the chicken get in here? I personally put in the supplies, he was not even close." He said grabbing the animal from the neck to get him out of his shelter.

"You know him, you never know how he does it."

"I'd better take him back," he sighed, regretting the thought of going back to Motunui again.

"What? No! Leave him, it will not be much work. In addition, I’m sure he misses the sea." In front of their eyes, Hei Hei began to walk towards the canoe’s edge and fell into the water,  and was picked up by an annoyed sea that threw him onto the boat, depositing him neatly in the hold where he had originally stowed away. Maui glanced at Moana and pointed the situation in front of them with his finger, she rolled her eyes but refused to return the chicken to Motunui.

"Come on, Mo, this is our honeymoon!" He complained again. "It was going to be a week for both of us and now it looks like an adult version of _Return Te Fiti's Heart_."

"Adult version?"

"What, now you're going to leave me without sex because of the chicken?"

"Of course not, we'll spend a week as you wanted but with one more guest."

Maui complained and rested his elbow on the railing with bitterness, ignoring the two of them. Moana returned to her place in the oar and continued in silence until she heard Maui say:

"I'm not going to let him watch."

She sighed, it was going to be a long trip.

 

It was not until the next morning that they arrived at their destination: the island of Maui.

The demigod had decided to sit on top of the wooden door to keep Hei Hei on the boat during the night, as the animal used to sneak and fall into the water every few minutes and because of how upset the ocean was becoming as time went by, he knew that it wouldn’t be a good idea to continue letting him walking around. Obviously Moana wasn’t thrilled with the arrangement, but finally had to accept that there was no other remedy to solve it and finished the discussion without much of a fight.

Maui almost kissed the sand when the canoe finally reached the shore and was able to rest from their unexpected guest and his suicide attempts. He approached his wife and helped her off the boat.

"Shall we off-load the supplies?" She asked, looking around. She knew already that there had been no monster here, that it had been Maui himself that had been causing so much stir on the island, yet she saw nothing out of the ordinary, everything was as if nothing had happened.

"Yes, that would be a good idea."

"Are we going to stay here then? All week?

"I've been thinking about working on this site for a while. It's going to be unrecognizable when I’m done with it," he said softly, turning to look at the place.

"What do you have in mind?" She glanced over his shoulder.

"I want to make a refuge here."

"A refuge?"

"Yes, for us. You said it, it's the nearest island to Motunui and we only have work there. We need a place where we can be alone, where we can rest, hang out together, whether on the island or fishing in the sea..." He went to her and took her hand. "I want to give you time for you too, I want to spend more time with you, as before, to be the one that knows you best."

Moana squeezed Maui's hand and smiled.

"Thank you, Maui," she whispered fondly. A sharp sound caught their attention and they turned to see Hei Hei choking on a stone. After spitting it out, he tried to eat it again. Maui looked sideways at Moana with boredom and she just shrugged with an indulgent smile.

"Go look where you want to plant things, I'll go get supplies," he said in defeat. He couldn’t keep looking that much stupidity for the rest of the day, and he got a headache when he realized he would have to be like this for a whole week.

She nodded and walked on the rocky island. It was still as desert and empty as when she visited it last time, the rocks were still the same size as the first time she had saw them, the few plants in small green patches, the sandstone formations...

She gasped as she reached the place she was looking for: the rock of the cave was blackened from behind, as if it had been covering a fire from within. She came close, running her hand over the stone and, with a nervous step, entered in the darkness of the cave. There was no trace of the sculpture that she had destroyed, nor of the rest, it was all filled with sandstone and bits of dark stone all over the room. What struck her most was the smell of ash and burnt that permeated the air. With her heart in a fist, she went into the ancient dark galleries where the smell became more and more unbearable.

She soon found the what had been the bed of Maui for so many centuries, that gap that years ago had destroyed both their friendship and their relationship. Frowning, she placed a hand on the ashes surface and looked at her palm, blackened by the remains of the fire. Maui had said that, during his time there, he believed he had been becoming Te Kā but she could never have imagined that his body had really been on fire.

"For two years I was living a nightmare," a voice whispered behind her. Moana jumped on the spot and looked at him with a bitter feeling in her stomach.

She could see the outline of Maui silhouetted against the light in the darkness. He was still, imposing and huge, so large that he occupied any space that could be an exit. The demigod stepped forward, letting the hole in the ceiling illuminate his face. Moana had never seen such a defeated look on her lover.

"My magic and my mind were out of control but I didn’t know the fire had been real, I always thought it was a figment of my imagination." He grabbed her hand gently and tried to wipe the charcoal smudge with his thumb, disgusted that something like that would have touched the purity of Moana. "I hurt you so bad in this place, Moana."

"I forgave you a long time ago," she said sincerely, not looking away from his hurt eyes. He shook his head.

"No, every night in my dreams, in my nightmares, I... raped your memory. I have made love to you so many nights in this place that I came to think that I had really done it and in each and every time you hated me, you hated my touch, you despised me... but no more than I did myself."

Moana rose on her tiptoes and grasped his cheeks to make him look at her.

"Never, never, have I hated you, and nothing you could, can, can’t or will do could make me hate you. You are mine."

"But I hurt you so much..."

"Silence," she ordered, and kissed him to push aside any words he had to say about the harm he had done to her, but the pain in his eyes was suffocating. "Maui, why did you bring me here?"

"I hated this island, the place where I feel the most lonely and where I most hated my existence." He looked at her as if she were the most beautiful thing in his world. "But it was also where my life began again, a life that I wouldn't change for anything... and I want to fill this place with good memories with you, to be our refuge and paradise, that someday when you stop guiding your people, we will come here to live together, just you and me, to love you here like so many times, to reward every tear and every minute that I wasn’t with you."

A tear trickled down her cheek and Maui brushed it away with his thumb. He didn’t deserve one more.

"I love you, Moana, and I'll do it for as long as I'm alive."

Moana hugged him tightly, feeling their hearts beat in unison.

"I'm going to make this place a place worthy of you," he said, breaking the embrace and looking at her face. "I'm going to make myself worthy of you."

He held her hand, still dark with the ashes, and slowly backed down the cave, walking backwards toward the exit, unable to look away from her. Once outside he pushed her away from the door, with a last glance in her direction, he inflated his lungs and gave a huge blow inside. A huge ball of smoke poured from every hole in the cavern as if it were a huge explosion.

Moana covered her face, coughing through the smoke, ash and dust despite being protected behind the huge body of the demigod. When it dissipated she opened her eyes to see Maui completely covered with soot but with a white smile on the black background of the ashes.  
  
  


"I think somebody must take a well-deserved bath." Moana couldn’t help but laugh at the appearance of the proud demigod. Only his teeth and his eyes could be seen in the dark cloak.

"I'm not going to strip naked if I'm not going to have company." He held out his hand with a suggestive smile. Moana stopped laughing to smile back at him.

"You know me well." She accepted his hand, and with a bump of  their hips, led him to the shore untying the knot of his skirt down the road. Maui didn’t have a single complaint for the rest of the morning.

Moana learned two things that week:

One; That Maui could grow crops in one night.

That morning, after bathing and frolicking in the water, they had started planting, or rather throwing seeds and fruits into the air all over the island. She had already explained to him that this wasn’t how you planted but had only obtained a " _trust me_ " in response. It was very hard to keep Hei Hei away from the food they had thrown away, and her concern melted away when she realized that they had really _wasted_ all the supplies they had brought. He hadn’t paid attention to her and gave her the last banana with a thoughtful smile. Since it was all that remained for the rest of the day, she agreed to share it and eat it but he refused it, stating that he wasn’t hungry.

That same night they lay down in the hollow of the cave where the bed was and made love for hours until one of them fainted with fatigue and release with the other following a few minutes later. The next morning Maui held her hand and led her out of the cave to show her his masterpiece and the extent of his power. The small island had become a vegetable paradise with palm trees everywhere, grass and vines had woven themselves into the hollows of the cavern and decorated the walls like vegetation curtains. There were bushes and foliage wherever she looked, colored flowers that she had never seen, the rocks were even covered with moss that partially hid the hooks carved in them, and the fruit; The fruits could be seen, large and mature on each branch, each trunk and each bush. The bananas were a perfect size for Maui himself, mangoes as large as her head, coconuts bigger than the demigod’s head, and the berries and vegetables in the orchard seemed ready to jump onto the dishes. There were also amazingly colorful fruits; red bananas, purple mangoes, even blue kiwis! They spent the rest of the day collecting everything she asked for, Maui spent the time climbing logs and jumping from tree to tree to pick everything she pointed to, handed her each fruit and brought it to her lips so that Moana tasted them with pleasure, giving him a kiss or a lick to his fingers as thanks. Hei Hei had disappeared completely in the forest but Moana could hear him in the distance when she called him. Both laughed, knowing that the little animal would be enjoying its own place in that little paradise.

Yes, certainly the demigod's magic was something remarkable and surprising, it had created a home for them starting from a dry rock in the middle of the ocean and, with a couple of pieces of fruit, had created a whole new ecosystem. One morning Moana vowed to have heard a flock of birds in the treetops as she rested beside her sleeping lover on the bed.

The second thing she had learned was that she could never get enough of him. Since the second time Moana had ripped off his leaf skirt Maui had decided, between amused and obfuscated, to not to dress again for the rest of the week, because of how easy it was to undo, and how torturous and wearisome it was to put it back on again. Moana had taken it as a funny joke but seeing that the demigod really intended to keep his word, she decided to imitate him and keep her clothes in the cave so that they didn’t get lost or ruined. Maui normally did not get aroused by a woman's naked body, but Moana had come to know him better than himself. She could feel the exact moment when he looked at her and his eyes became dark with desire, that look that made her stomach warm with impatience and inevitability, she could begin to notice how she got wet when he left what he was doing and approached her with the promise of the most ardent of pleasures.

He took her in every imaginable way, the first morning they arrived; on the beach, that afternoon; under the trees, after a long day of gathering and fishing; they did it in the cave, against the palm trees and the tree trunks. Moana couldn’t help shuddering as she remembered how Maui had fucked her so sweetly in the grassy clearing, snarling in her ear like a beast and biting her neck as if there was no tomorrow. She could hardly wait to visit Tamatoa to tell him that she already knew what he meant by the _metaphor of the rock_ , and that she and Maui had enjoyed this rhetorical figure again and again over a magnificent day.

It is not that they devoted themselves to it all day, of course not; They used to have fun in the afternoons jumping from the rock she lept from the first time they met, they dozed together under the canopy of the trees, they went out to sea for a couple of hours to fishing - although they couldn’t avoid doing it more than once in the canoe- and spend time browsing, they collected the delicious fruit created just for them...

They only saw Hei Hei once and it was in one of the most hilarious moments of the week when they were frolicking on the beach, Maui above her, kissing her with passion and then he let out a grunt and over his shoulder they saw Hei Hei standing on his buttocks looking at them with that same lost, stupid look as always. Moana had to spend several hours convincing Maui that Hei Hei didn't know what he was doing and it was cruel to make chicken pie for dinner.

It had certainly been one of the most incredible weeks of her life, instead of getting up to work she could lay in bed all she wanted with her best friend, husband and the world's best lover. The time together would be over, they would have to return soon but this time had opened their eyes a lot and in more ways than one. She wished there was such a place in Motunui, a place where they could take refuge from the world, where Maui could rebuild the statue -which he always reminded her with a snort every time they entered the cave- where they spent time together, a secret place only for the two of them... A spark flashed in her head as she remembered that there was a place absolutely suitable for that solitude that they were so much looking for in Motunui itself.

"Mo, even if you beg me. Seriously, I could melt that magic snowball if I put it next to my balls" she heard him whine. She blinked disoriented and realized where she was; Right on the beach enjoying their last dinner before they had to leave for home. She hadn’t realized that while she had let her mind wander, she had been looking at Maui and surely, and not without reason, he had misinterpreted the situation. "I don’t know about you, but for a demigod of five thousand years old, four or five times a day is more than enough, I can do no more."

"It's not that, idiot." She laughed with amused laughter. "I was thinking of a job for you when we get back."

"I already have a job," he bit off a huge purple mango. "It's entertaining my fans. It's hard work, not everyone can do it."

"It's very connected with that." This time Maui looked at her with interest. "But you're right" she shrugged "it may be very boring… even tedious... I don’t think it's a job for the great demigod."

"Come now, don’t play with me, will not you even tell me what it is?"

She looked back at him through the fire, he was relaxed and calm, this alone time had made them feel better, not just for their daily work, but for their relationship. She had always noticed in Maui the indecision and reticence in some traces of their 'marriage' but this time had made those imaginary lines of control that he had placed for his own protection, blurry. She really had no way to say in words how this time together had made them change, improve, even evolve, all doubts and insecurities had remained in Motunui and Moana knew that, when they returned, they would no longer be there.

She smiled and stood up slowly toward him. Maui watched her approach and his frown changed to a look of need. She knew perfectly well how much he appreciated the color of her bare skin lit only by the moon and the light of the bonfire. She climbed into his lap and he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Maybe," she whispered, leaning over for a small kiss, "but not tonight... unless you force it out of me," she moaned against his lips.

Maui let out a grunt between needy and mortified. It really was going to take a couple of days to recover after this vacation.

 

* * *

 

"I'm not leaving without Hei Hei, Maui," she said for the last time with her arms crossed and a glaring look on her face.

"That bug has only given us problems since we arrived, he would be happy here. He is alone, there are no predators and there is more food than he could eat in his life, let him be happy!" He exclaimed, pointing to the leafy jungle as if to confirm his words.

"Ten," she began, he tensed.

"No, come now, you can't..."

"Nine," she continued.

With a frivolous, angry look he lifted his hook and shapeshifted into the iguana, and ran into the woods muttering under his breath. Moana laughed and sat on the canoe behind her to wait and be able to say goodbye silently to her little paradise. She was going to come back, that's for sure. She said goodbye to the the palm trees, the coconuts, each fruit, the sand on the beach, the grass, the birds that flew over them and her wonderful cave where they spent so many good moments.

Maui didn’t take long to return with her beloved chicken, held clenched by his neck. When he reached her, he threw him into her arms and put a hand on his hip to look at her with a raised eyebrow. Moana, however, couldn’t look away from the plump Hei Hei, who could barely move his head.

"I think somebody's going to have to go on a diet," she said with a nervous half-smile at the poor animal's condition.

"We're going to have to hide it at home or the villagers will have a feast with him as soon as they see him." She was silent but couldn’t help but award him a point for it. If Hei Hei had almost been devoured several times in spite of his scrawny appearance, now that he had a beautiful, stuffy body he would be a danger to himself. She picked up her little friend carefully, placed him at the stern of the canoe, and turned to her husband.

"We're leaving now, right?"

"Yes, I only have one last thing." He held out his hand. Moana looked at him strangely, but extended her hand. Taking it, Maui brought it to his lips and kissed her knuckles affectionately. Releasing her, Moana noticed something heavy in her palm and opened her eyes in surprise at the sight of a rambutan.

"You found more! I thought I had eaten them all." She opened it impatiently and brought it to her lips, closing her eyes with pleasure as she tasted the sweet, creamy texture. During her stay here she had found a strange addiction to these fruits and Maui, under her orders, had picked all the trees in the area bare for her.

"This is the last one, I was saving it for the end." She looked at him with all the love and affection she felt at this time.

"Thank you, Maui," she moaned, and he laughed in response.

"Now, come on, hold on." He waited for her to obey and gave the canoe a strong push, jumping in at the last moment before it was completely off the beach.

With a brilliant smile, he grabbed the oar and handed it to her, she accepted it and with a delighted glance behind her, and her canoe filled with delicious provisions, set sail for Motunui again.  


**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fanart:
> 
> ["Maui covered in ash"](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/post/163773123421/maui-covered-in-ash-fanart-for-the-fic-fire) by [MagicFishHook](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/)


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! We arrive in chapter 13 with the last lemon and the beginning of the last plot arc that will resolve at the end of the fic.
> 
> Some of you have been very close to the hint I gave in the previous chapter, let’s see if you discover it before the next chapter! I hope to not disappoint you with the ending.
> 
> Thank you very much for all your reviews!
> 
> ***THIS CHAPTER HAS A NSFW FANART***

Moana had to speak to her father very seriously about the matter, and more than once to ask Maui questions that might hint at some information but not destroy the surprise. It doesn’t have to be said that Tui was very astonished by her proposition but really came to admire the ideas of his young daughter.

And there they were now, several days after returning from their little adventure with Hei Hei under her arm, which they had to hide in their house to prevent him from hurting himself and ending up being someone’s lunch. Maui And Pua followed closely behind, and he was still asking her questions to discover her surprise.

"And do we need the chicken?" He asked for the thousandth time.

"Yes, I will not leave him at home any longer. He has assaulted our food amphorae and made a mess of the place," both of them grinned, for the small size of the bird his depositions were disproportionate.

"And you need me for this because...?"

"At first I didn’t plan to bring Hei Hei, but since you're going to be isolated for a time, I thought you'd appreciate the company."

Maui suddenly stopped and looked at her with a frown and a grimace.

"With the chicken? Are you going to change my task as protector and demigod of the island to a nanny for the chicken?" He looked at Pua with indignation, the pig looked back at him, knowing perfectly well how he felt.

"I will not give you any more details," she joked over her shoulder without stopping. Maui complained, annoyed that she didn’t fall into his trap, but decided to follow her.

They climbed and climbed the mountain until they reached a concealed passage between the rocks. She gave him a quick glance over her shoulder and smiled at the look of interest and surprise in her partner's eyes. The first steps into the cave were in the dark, but the end of the tunnel was illuminated by the light that the waterfall let pass in the great gallery where the boats had once been stored. When Maui saw the waterfall he couldn’t but open his mouth in wonder at the huge, hidden place. There were stairs that became lost in secret corners, ample space for all kinds of activities and large numbers of people, all illuminated by the light that filtered through the huge column of water.

"The people in the village know of this cave but they never come here so I think it's the perfect place."

"Perfect for what?" Maui asked with a raised eyebrow.

"To work without being disturbed, of course. We have a demigod on the island and no place worthy of him so my father and I thought building a place of worship, with a statue and that wouldn’t be bad. The problem is that we don’t have anyone who knows how to carve a statue of the size we are looking for... no one but the demigod himself." She left Hei Hei on the ground and turned to face him. "So what do you think? Do you measure up?"

"All the questions you asked me... " she nodded knowing what he was going to say but he continued "if I liked to sculpt, how much weight could I carry..."

"You know, a big statue like that won’t fit through the main entrance, you'd have to take it out through the waterfall." She motioned with her thumb.

Maui set the hook aside and, with a couple of strides, reached her and kissed her hard.

"You will not be alone," Maui interrupted her again with a kiss. "Hei Hei will be with you-" kiss, "-and I'll come and see you sometimes."

He took her in his arms and carried her to the most illuminated part of the cave to show her just how much her idea meant to him, causing Pua to shake his head and go through the rocky tunnel where they had come to give them privacy. Not even Hei Hei perching on his buttocks could upset him at that moment.

And so they began a new routine in which they woke up, had breakfast together and went out each one to their respective position: Maui to his hidden cave in the mountain and Moana to her duties as head of the tribe. Moana came up from time to time with supplies and other things like blankets, torches, amphoras of water and food, and other decorations for those hours of rest where they would gather in a small corner to enjoy a little time together. Hei Hei hadn’t even given them any kind of trouble. Maui had already started his statue with a huge rock that he took from the bowels of the cave and it was gradually taking shape, Moana marveled at the ability of Maui to work the stone as if it were clay.

Many had asked about the demigod's absence, since he hadn’t been seen - by the new visitors and merchants who had gathered in their marked place in the port - for weeks. The general rumor and excuse was that he was busy with his duties to mortals and once he was finished he would return, but everyone in the village knew the truth as Maui used to keep meeting with them at meals and living in the house of the chief with his wife.

At first, right at the beginning of her marriage, Moana even feared that her people would overlook her as chief of the tribe and would choose Maui instead. That fear grew stronger when he came to live with them; Not only he was a man, but also a demigod, but her people, and the demigod himself, had surprised her when her place didn’t tremble for an instant since, although Motunui had accepted her new and divine resident with surprise and praise, she had remained their chief. All the questions and problems went to her, all the functions were decided by her -and her parents- and some time in the distance she had been able to see a group of locals approach Maui to ask him and, with surprise, she saw how the demigod pointed to her and they turned to tell her that they were looking for her and how they could deal with the incident that was happening. Motunui was full of faithful people and she couldn’t be happier and happier with her island.

Maui would do anything for her, he had turned to their relationship and pampered and consented to her in every way he could. One night a week he flew back to the island to fetch all the favorite fruits of his young wife so that upon waking she would have the breakfast of a princess. At night he massaged her shoulders, combed her long dark hair, kissed her neck and loved her body until dawn. In the mornings he woke her with caresses long before they had to rise, so that they would be able to take their time between whispers and affectionate touches before having to get up for the day.

For better or worse, something had changed and it was her ravenous hunger for her partner. This week had taken its toll on a level that she still couldn’t understand. She simply needed Maui in the weirdest hours of the day and she had promised herself that she wouldn’t disturb the demigod during his hours carving, no matter how intense the heat was inside her. Not that she was the only one, since she noticed the glances between the crowd during meals or when he escaped from the cave to rest, shapeshifted into a beetle to visit the port from a distance, surely he believed that she didn’t notice him but Moana had become quite sensitive to him and could feel his presence in the vicinity.

And in one of those uncomfortable situations she was right now:

"Are you sure you don’t want any?" Sina asked in surprise. "I thought you loved shrimp."

She grimaced.

"Yes, I thought I did, but I don’t want them now. I mean, don’t they seem a little repulsive to you? They are like small bugs." She made a gesture with her hands.

Sina and Tui looked at her in bewilderment before a fourth voice caught their attention with a question.

They were all gathered during their meal, Moana next to their parents who laughed and talked amiably among themselves or with the members of the council, those closest to their ranges. Maui, in the distance, did the same with Siaki. Maui may have been the husband of the chief and his place was with her in these types of situations, but as a demigod, and with the permission of the chief herself, he was allowed to sit where he wanted and his friendship with the young Siaki had been of real importance during their time apart and was something he wanted to keep. However, since lunch had begun and they had all gathered there, Moana felt her lover's permanent gaze upon her which had caused the heat to begin to spread throughout her body and the space between her thighs to become uncomfortably wet. Her throat was prickling with need, and the heat grew more and more unbearable as the evening passed, not even trying to engage in conversation with those around her could soothe those cravings. She forced herself to not to look at him, not to look up to see what he was doing from a distance but soon the call and the fire in her body became too strong to be borne. She squirmed more than once, trying to ease the sting and need, swallowed, and waited a few more minutes. As the town began to finish their lunch and set off to return to their chores, she patted herself on the back for her strength and looked up at the exact spot where she knew Maui would be.

She was right, there were those dark eyes that had become so familiar during their adventures. Not dark because they were that color, no, dark with need, obscured by hunger. Moana said goodbye to her parents and friends and got up with the help of her oar. She walked slowly through the gathered groups, greeting them all with small nods and smiles until arriving where Maui sat. Once there, she grabbed his collar of fangs and pulled it hard without stopping. He made a strangled sound and suddenly stood up in an uncomfortably inclined posture and followed her with a last apology to Siaki and those present who looked at him with pity, wondering what trouble he would have caused in those moments so that the ever-calm head of the tribe would take him in that way.

"Moana..." He let out a stifled groan. She didn’t slow down and continued walking into the woods. Once they were at a considerable distance from the village, she turned to face him.

"I told you," she growled before giving him a strong tug to join their mouths. Maui moaned, circling her waist but she wasn’t going to have any of this and cut the kiss with a small bite on his lower lip. "I told you not to look at me like that during the day."

"Look at you how?" He panted, unable to avoid a shudder as those little hands dropped of his collar down his body.

"You know how."

"Mo, no…" but she had already knelt down and removed the leaves of his skirt that were needed to reach her longed-for prize.

There it was. Moana gasped and grabbed his flaccid member, stroking it between her fingers and swallowing saliva to quell hunger. Even before he was erect, she bent down and thrust his cock into her mouth with a moan of pleasure. Maui had to bite his lip to avoid a curse and grabbed her head to keep her steady.

"This is crazy," he gritted through his teeth. Moana responded with a groan and began a tortuous sway with her mouth. She could feel the tip of his growing limb banging against her throat and he couldn’t help shivering as her hands stroked his testicles with the skill she had learned over the past few months. She was a remarkable and talented apprentice who had gone from being unable to put it in her mouth more than his glans to being able to introduce more than half of his erection and suck it as if her life were in it. Maui had to control himself not to grab her head and fuck her throat every time he saw those beautiful lips surrounding him that way. Once fully erect, Moana had to pull away so she wouldn’t choke and still enjoy the warm flesh in her mouth. Now it was harder to work, but she had gotten what she set out to do: taste her husband and get him to become totally excited.

Before Maui realized, the skirt of leaves fell loose at his feet with a tug that Moana gave to the lianas that holded it. She stood up and kissed him furiously, looking at him with eyes glittering with desire.

"Lie down."

She pushed his chest resolutely as a gesture. Maui obeyed sitting on the ground, letting her sit on his lap and continue with the kisses. With another push she got Maui to lie flat on the grass and positioned herself on his lap, sticking his hard cock under her skirt. He gave her a shocked look.

"Here? Really?We're-" He was interrupted by her slowly sitting on his erection. "For the gods…"

Moana had easily become accustomed to the huge body beneath her. From those first days where each penetration had to use a good amount of cream to help and soothe the pain, until now, where she only needed a pair of concise looks so that her body became wet enough and needed to give way easily and with only a small sensation of delicious stinging before leaving him totally encased in the heat of her entrails. Another small holiday gift from the island.

She had barely finished sitting down as her hips began the exquisite swaying, tossing her head back with joy as Maui slammed against her inner walls with every movement. He grabbed her hips to help her even though they had done this so many times that she barely needed help or got tired from the effort. She just let the pleasure take her body and all other sensation was bottled by this.

The orgasm soon reached her and she dug her nails into the chest beneath her. This was one of the biggest problems with their relationships; One of the two got wounded. Delicious war wounds. Maui healed quickly and was barely seen because of his work in the cave but for her it was harder to hide with her clothing and her duties facing the public. Not that this problem would have prevented any of them from stopping their instincts. Maui shook himself as the walls hovered around him and followed her into her orgasm with a hoarse snarl.

He opened his mouth to let out one of his sardonic remarks when Moana started again with a violent swaying shaking all his hypersensitized nerves.

"What the hell?!" he panted, gripping her waists tightly, not even stopping the young woman's movement in his lap.

"I only came once," she moaned, sticking her tongue out in mockery.

"You can't be serious!"

Moana only laughed, which ended in a moan due to the sweet movement. She could feel the seed inside her sliding down her thighs, leaving a wet mess between their bodies.

The second orgasm came with a shock that left the two exhausted and transposed. Moana took a few minutes of sweet unconsciousness lying on her husband's chest, hiding her face in Maui’s neck. He stroked her back from top to bottom in a languorous sleepy motion. When the softened erection slipped from between her legs they both let out a complaint and an annoying grimace as the liquid leaked past her thighs.

"I don’t know what just happened," Maui said in a still hoarse voice, "but the next time you try to kill me, warn me."

"Don’t exaggerate." She laughed, kissing his neck. She sat up on her elbows and kissed his lips softly. "I must go," she whispered. Seconds later, standing up with a grin, she felt the hot liquid trickle down her legs. "Ugh, I'll go to the shore before continuing my duties."

Maui sat looking annoyed at his shattered skirt scattered all over the clearing.

"You have no idea how difficult it is to put on my skirt, Mo, really."

"It's been worth it." She stuck her tongue out, Maui rolled his eyes and tossed his head back with a moan.

She walked over to him and kissed him.

"Did you like it at least?" He raised an eyebrow at the silly question. Moana laughed and put her clothes back on, picking up her oar. "I'll see you tonight."

Maui imitated her mockingly and stood up to pick up the remains of his skirt. With one last kiss she said goodbye and returned to the port with a bright smile on her lips.

 

* * *

 

He moved slowly, his back muscles sore, His neck and shoulders were tense and burning. Being a demigod, he could endure the effort more than a normal mortal but after so many days of working on the statue, his body rebelled. Maybe he could give himself a couple of days off and take advantage of his break to make his comeback to the public for a few hours. He came home willing to spend the last hours of the day with his beautiful Moana. He wrapped his hand around his neck and twisted it so that it gave an ugly crunch leaving a wave of relief behind him.

"Oh, yes, much better," he murmured to himself, mini Maui nodded, rubbing his arms in pain. The sharing of body sometimes was a nightmare for the little tattoo. "Don’t worry, now it's time to rest. We will tell Moana that we want to go to sleep soon and tomorrow we will go to the island for more fruit, a flight will do us good after the week stinging stone."

The tattoo nodded between grateful and happy. Maui pushed the tapestry open and came in, waving with an exhausted whisper.

Moana waited patiently for him, standing in the room with her hands behind her back, her beautiful happy face turned into a wolfish smile. Maui swallowed.

"What?" He asked in a low voice. When the smile widened he knew something was wrong. "No, Mo, seriously, I can’t, I'm exhausted." Mini Maui nodded. "We're exhausted," he pointed his friend.

"It's not that, idiots." She laughed in amusement. "You mentioned a couple of weeks ago and I made sure it was done... I received it this afternoon and I've been waiting all day to give it to you."

Maui's muscles relaxed and he let out a sigh of relief.

"What is it?"

She smiled halfway and pulled her hands out of her hiding place revealing a heap of cloth painted in ochers and greens. Maui frowned and raised an eyebrow without being very convinced of what to do.

"Go ahead, try it on."

"Try it on?" He picked it up and let the cloth spread out showing the palm frond motifs. Then he understood. "Did you bring me a _lavalava_?" She shrugged her shoulders.

"You always tell me that you hate to undo your skirt because it's hard to put back on."

"It was implicit a ' _please, Moana, you're going to kill me’_ ," she laughed.

"Well, you have no excuse anymore." She stuck her tongue out with a smile. Maui grimaced, but looked back at her gift to him. It was a really beautiful fabric with some pretty showy decorations and the skirt of leaves had begun to be a nuisance, especially now that Moana insisted on suddenly appearing anywhere on the island and ripping off wherever she caught him wearing. He wondered silently if it was possible for someone to die from sex.

"I feel like a piece of meat, I'm good for something more than sex," he growled softly, letting go of his skirt of leaves. He didn’t miss the dark look of desire in his wife's eyes but decided to ignore her, he was really too tired for anything but sleep.

Once he put on the lavalava he rested his hands on his hips and looked at her, waiting for a verdict. It really was comfortable, he would have to find a way to tie the knife and other decorations on, but as a way to cover himself it was perfect.

"Did you have them weave this for me?" he asked. Moana let out an affirmative murmur circling him to see how he looked from all angles.

"You are the biggest men here and I wanted some special decorations, I drew them myself."

Maui blinked in surprise and smiled warmly.

"I love it. Thank you, Mo." She stopped in front of him and stood on tiptoe to kiss him.

Maui bent to reach her lips and shared a small kiss, which was cut when he felt a strong pull and the lavalava fell limp in his ankles.

"Moana!"

"Yes, it's perfect." With a laugh she turned away and went to rummage through a basket at one of the corners. "Lie down," she said. Maui complained aloud.

"Princess, seriously, not tonight."

Moana reappeared with a very familiar vessel and a face full of sympathy.

"I'm going to give you a massage," she explained softly. Lately she had a voracious hunger but she understood that Maui's work was more physical and brutal, even being a demigod it was normal to be tired working every day in that cave. He had worked hard. On more than one occasion, Moana had had to climb into his hiding place because he had lost track of time and had been working late into the night. There was no hurry or need, but it was obvious that he liked to carve the rock.

Given everything he had done for them, Moana thought he deserved a small gift and rest for today. Maui had done the same for her, massaging her shoulders and feet after a long day at the harbor. No doubt she could do the same for her generous husband.

"You don’t have to," he said, but he said it in a nervous tone that made her laugh.

"I insist."

He nodded and bent to pick up the lavalava.

"No, let it be, I like to see you naked."

"Are you objectifying me again?" He joked, lying on the bed facing down. She patted him on the buttocks.

"What can I say? It's my weakness."

Given the sheer size of Maui in comparison to her, Moana had to climb onto his back in order to reach the key points for her massage. Once on top of her partner, she stroked the skin under her hands. The tattoos on Maui were surprising in detail even though they had no texture like hers. She smiled as she noticed the small freckles scattered through the unmarked voids, remembering once that she spent an entire afternoon counting all the tiny spots on his chest, helped by Mini Maui pointing at them and marking them on his tattooed blackboard. Unable to help it, she leaned down and kissed his skin, letting the tip of her tongue taste the salty flavor of him for a moment. She smiled at the pleasurable whisper of the demigod.

She returned to her seated position, picked up the vessel and filled her hands with the oily substance. She warmed it by rubbing her palms and pulled Maui’s hair out of the way to begin loosening the knots in his shoulders. The moan of pleasure was soon heard, giving her more confidence to strengthen her touch and rub the sore muscles.

"You should stop for a few days, to rest," she said quietly, not wanting to break the aura of relaxation that had begun to form around them.

"I've thought about it, maybe tomorrow I'll fly to the island for more fruit." She smiled happily.

"Yes, please, I want more rambutan."

Maui frowned.

"More? I brought you an entire basket just three days ago."

"What can I say?" she shrugged. "I have become obsessed with them a little."

"It's okay..." he said hesitantly. "Any other fruit in particular?"

"Hmm mangoes, the red bananas are fine, not the normal ones," she grimaced. "I don’t like the taste at all."

"And kiwis?" At the mention of that acid-sweet fruit she couldn’t help but bitterly swallow.

"No, it leaves a strange taste on my mouth."

Maui made a drowsy grunt of affirmation, not very aware of the conversation anymore. Whether it was through fatigue or Moana's magic hands on his tortured skin, he could only fall into a deep sleep.

 

* * *

 

She had a bad day.

More than that, she had many bad days. Maybe it was the heat, or the amount of merchants, or that she barely had time for herself, or that there was something inside her that told her she had forgotten something, something important, but she didn’t know what it was. She had that itch in her head, that voice that whispered in her ear ' _remember_ ' but remember what?

Maybe it was because Maui had spent too much time lately in the cave, or that she had finished the weekly basket of her favorite fruit in just a few days, which had caused her indigestion...

She didn’t know why, but she was in a bad mood and had severe headaches. Even Maui had noticed some weariness in her and had asked her to take a couple of hours to rest, but she couldn’t do that. She was the chief of her people, she wasn’t going to spend a whole day without fulfilling her responsibilities because she felt a bit sick. She thought she would get distracted by work but she couldn’t be more wrong: this was worse. Her headaches increased at times.

"Excuse me, chief?" said a voice, Moana blinked to focus her gaze and apologized when realizing that she had lost her train of thought again while one of the merchants spoke with her.

"Yes, I'm sorry, I'm a little tired."

"That's understandable," said the navigator with an indulgent half smile, which Moana returned.

"What were you telling me about the sails?" The young woman blinked a little disconcerted by the change of subjects and spoke again.

"The main sail has been torn and needs a patch but I've run out of net thread to sew it. I have a couple of coconut crabs that I can trade for the thread, if that's enough."

"Of course, go talk to Sione about the thread, surely he will gladly accept the crabs. He can bargain well so don’t let him fool you." Moana winked. She laughed and said goodbye with a smile and a thank-you.

Moana watched her leave and closed her eyes with a sigh. If only the sun didn’t shine so brightly this morning and she could rest a little out of sight of this suffocating light. She heard Pua's snort at her feet and her eyes narrowed.

"I need a break, don’t I?" The pig grunted affirmatively. "I know, maybe I can ask my father for a respite for a few minutes, how is your family?" she asked, starting to walk back to the villa to see Tui. Pua made a couple of unintelligible sounds as if answering her question. Moana followed the stream, talking as in a normal conversation. When they reached the house of the chiefs she looked for her father and saw a couple of old men.

"Hello, do you know where my father is?"

"Chief Tui is in the house of craftsmanship, apparently there are a couple of important orders and not many hands." Moana winced, he couldn’t help her.

"And my mother?"

"I think she told me she would go and make baskets in the clearing today," said an old woman with a crooked and toothless smile.

"I'll go there, thank you. Come on, Pua."

As the elders said, Sina was with Arona, the children and a couple of young people learning how to make baskets for food. She was very surprised to see her daughter there.

"What are you doing here? Is there a problem?"

"No, I was looking for dad." She smiled to calm her down. "I'm a bit tired and I wanted to ask my father to take over for a few hours."

Sina frowned.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

For all these years, Moana never had taken a day of rest to be sick.

"Yes, it's just indigestion from eating too much fruit" she rolled her eyes when the kids laughed at her joke. Sina followed the joke with a giggle.

"I can take care of that, if you want, but don’t tell your father."

"Mom, you're the best." Sina patted her shoulder, brushing her hair gently.

"Go rest and don’t worry about anything."

She turned to ignore the wave of murmuring that erupted behind her. She didn't know what all the whispers were about, and she didn’t have the strength to stay and ask. She met a couple of friends as she went back to her hut but didn’t stay long enough to start a conversation, her head was killing her. She helped herself with the oar, leaning on it at every step, when something caught her attention: A heart. On her oar. There was a very familiar heart and hook carved into her oar above the beautiful decorated motifs. That wasn't there the last time she saw it.

"I'm going to kill that idiot," she growled under her breath, changing the course of her journey. Pua stopped following her, he never wanted to stay long when Moana climbed up there knowing he would surely end up in the middle of something he didn’t want to see.

The uphill road became twice as hard, so much so that she almost choked once she reached the opening of the cave. She had to sit for a few moments leaning on the oar to catch her breath and promised herself not to eat so much fruit at once, never again. Once her breathing calmed and the view stopped clouding, she stood up and entered the dark tunnel.

The sound of the chisel hitting the rock was heard from the first moment she entered, purely by the echo of the place, guiding her on her way through the galleries to the huge room where her lover worked. As she went on, she thought about what she was going to say, how she would beat him up for spoiling the gift of the best woodworker on the island, how she was going to kiss him until he was out of his mind...

Every word in her mind died on her lips when she finally saw the demigod at work: he was covered with sweat and rock dust covering his dark skin with a layer of dirt that gave him an almost animal appearance, his hair was gathered in the bun with several locks falling loose. He had a foot on the statue to support himself while chiseling what was supposed to be the torso of the stone giant, his lavalava rolled up showing the tattoos on his legs and his face contorted in concentration that made her blood burn.

She had to lean against the wall and remind herself again and again in a low voice that she had promised herself not to disturb Maui in _that way_ while he was working, that this was his sanctuary... and how hot he was while working in his sanctuary. Her feet responded by themselves and walked toward him, leaving the oar in the doorway. Maui seemed to notice her presence because he stopped what he was doing and looked over his shoulder with a frown when he saw her there.

"Mo? What are you doing here?" Moana grabbed the fang necklace and kissed him hard.

"On your knees," she demanded hoarsely.

"I'm a mess," he said, trying to pull away, she held him by the collar.

"Now," she said harshly. Maui gave her a dark look of desire and obeyed knowing perfectly what she wanted. He knelt down on his knees and stroked her ankles fondly, his fingers climbing her long legs, running his hands under her skirt and lifting it for a better view. He ran two fingers down the valley of curls between her thighs, noticing the moisture between her folds. He had just lifted her skirt and was so wet that he could take her without waiting, but he knew that was not what she had asked for, no. He bent down and buried his face between her legs, savoring greedily the delicacy she offered him. Her hands quickly caught his curls with that strong hold that she always had when he gave her pleasure with his mouth.

The moans soon came as his tongue played and sucked at her clit. When her legs failed to keep her standing, he pushed her against the statue so that she could lean against it and let him continue his mission of giving her all the pleasure he could. Moana passed one leg over his shoulders, giving him more space and steadying herself. She couldn’t stop her body from shuddering in ecstasy with that fantastic tongue inside her. Maui wished he had clean hands to accompany his tongue, he knew what she enjoyed every time he inserted his fingers and hit that sweet spot inside her that made her scream and squirm. She would have to put up with just his mouth, for now.

He soon noticed the signs of her orgasm; The grip of his hair increased, her legs jerked and Moana became a panting heap between his fingers. With a last shout, she collapsed, leaning on the rock and her lover for support. Maui gave a final suction to her clit and pulled his head out from under her skirt.

"This is not over, right?" He asked in a husky, needy voice. The leaf skirt had been annoying against his erection compared to the soft, loose lavalava fabric, but it was still an erection and he really needed that woman right now. Moana licked her lips and with a languorous smile and a look full of passion said with a demanding tone:

"Against the statue."

No further instructions were needed. He stood up to kiss her with passion, uniting their tongues and their lips in an animal kiss. With a sudden movement he turned her around and made her face the stone and lifted her skirt to her hips. He didn’t even want to let go of the lavalava, he pushed it aside to free his erection and brushed the hollow between her legs, enjoying the way she twisted and trembled beneath him. But he knew this was what she was asking for. On their vacation on the island, Moana had shown a hunger for submission in bed. She liked to dominate, obviously, with that strong character, she loved to make him lie on the floor so that she could do whatever she wanted with him, but there had been times when she had begged him to be fucked, and hard, against all kinds of inanimate objects. She had groaned, growled and begged as he took her body again and again with all the force of his thrusts.

"Beg me," he whispered into her ear, forcing her to utter a pained whimper, knowing how sensitive her ears were. Moana moaned and rubbed her buttocks against the hard flesh of her lover.

"Please, Maui."

"Please, Maui, what?" He demanded, brushing the tip of his cock against her entrance, sliding in and out slightly but preventing her from making any movement, grasping her waist.

"Fuck me," she asked, her eyes laden with lust over her shoulder. Maui gulped down the chill that ran down his spine and smiled halfway.

"At your command, chief."

He stepped into the narrow gap with a single sharp push. Moana shrieked through the sweet, well-received pressure inside her. There really was no better remedy for a headache than a huge demigod with easy smile and that great dick. All she could think of in those moments was the heat and pleasure that repeatedly erupted in her body. Her nerves were raw and she swore she could feel the erection banging against the walls of her stomach, giving her shivers of pure delight that made her legs tremble. Maui was leaning over her with his arm leaning against the statue and another gripping her waist to increase the power of his thrusts.

He looked down, where their bodies joined, and he saw himself disappear again and again between their bodies. He clenched his jaw tightly, holding the impulse to grasp her like an animal. He had to control his strength. That was something he had been struggling with since he, with his new demigod powers, returned to the human world. Humans were fragile, everything was fragile around them with that superhuman strength. He could leave black bruises from his fingers on that tattooed skin, it would be easy, it would be precious, a temporary mark hidden among the sketches of ink that only they would be able to see.

He grunted and pushed his hand away, lowering it to the buttocks. He had to keep those thoughts out of his head, he couldn’t do that without her permission, without her asking.

Then he noticed; The tender flesh between his fingers, her firm, plump buttocks that bounced against him again and again. They were small for his size, no, that’s a lie, they were perfect for his size, fit perfectly in the palm of his hand. Moana moaned at the touch on her body, lifting her hips for better access.

The sudden sharp crack and sting in his hand alerted him to what had happened. He had let the beast escape. Moana had stopped moaning and gasping and was completely frozen. Maui had stopped his thrusts and looked at his raised hand at eye level as if he didn’t know how it got there. He looked down to see the buttock he had just struck and how it was picking up a lovely pink color.

"Mo, I'm sorr-" he began in a worried tone, but she cut him off.

"Do it again!"

As if he'd been shocked, Maui obeyed, lowering his hand suddenly against her buttocks.

The moans were quick to begin, and soon Moana squirmed under the power of his renewed onslaughts and slaps. Maui tried to be careful, to use the necessary strength as to meet her expectations and not hurt her. He tried. With all his desire. But he couldn’t prevent one blow from coming out with more impact than he expected. To his surprise, Moana screamed and moaned more, begging for more, when his touches were tougher on her already battered buttocks.

"More!" She shouted euphorically, being rewarded when Maui laid one leg on the sculpture and increased speed and strength.

Moana felt the stone crack in her fingers and she could swear that it was displaced backward by causing dust and some other stone chips to fall on them. Neither of them tried to remedy it, lost in their own world of pleasure. Moana begged more than once and these supplications were more than supplied by her attentive lover. The orgasm shook her forcefully. She pushed back against Maui’s rhythmic thrusts to the point of climax with a groan of ecstasy and a long and tortuous shiver that ran all over her body.

Maui roared against her ear as her inner walls hovered around his needy flesh, sucking his erection hard. He tensed and rested his head against his arm, allowing pleasure to carry him. Throb after delicious throb, he came inside her, allowing her to suck up every drop that emanated from him.

They both remained totally still, only the sound of their breath churning and the incessant drumming of their hearts against their ears. Maui was the first to react and with a moan pulled out his softened erection. Immediately after, the seed emanated from her entrance and descended her thighs in spurts, he grinned.

"I'm going to get something to clean you up, don’t move," he said huskily, kissing her shoulder before pulling away. Moana made no sound, still squeezing the last bits of pleasure, and bent down to kneel on the floor, utterly exhausted. She really needed this.

They had to repeat this.

Maui returned a few minutes later with a cloth and wiped between her legs with the utmost care. Gently he raised her skirt and hissed at the red skin of her buttocks, somewhat obscured by the dirt and dust that had covered his hands from working with the rock.

"Good thing you're working on your feet," he said softly. Moana laughed and licked her lips, satisfied and tingly the new experience. She opened her eyes to thank him and saw the panorama beneath them; The floor was full of red feathers from her dress. With the movement, the grip and activity, they had come loose and scattered all over the place.

"It looks like we've pluckeafterd Hei Hei."

"Well, I wish, I’m starving." Moana smacked his stomach at the comment. Hei Hei had recovered his figure in a few weeks and escaped the cave without them knowing how. One morning he was there, and the next day, after searching for him in all the galleries, he appeared on one of the houses in the town trying to eat the wooden beam that held the roof in place.

With a sigh of pleasure Moana leaned back against his chest, he wrapped an arm around her. She avoided a wince as her buttocks rubbed against the hard floor.

"I'm still a mess."

"Now we're both a mess."

" _Touché._ Are you okay?"

"By the gods, yes. I learn something new every day with you in bed," she joked.

"It wasn't too hard?"

"Oh, yes, a lot." Maui snapped his tongue and pushed her with his shoulder.

"I mean it, did it hurt you?"

"I really liked it." She looked over her shoulder and smiled at him, numb. "You should stop worrying so much, I've shown you that I'm tougher than I look."

Maui couldn’t even discuss that. She was absolutely right.

He kissed her temple and combed her hair out of her face until he remembered an important point.

"What are you doing here?" He asked disconcertedly as if he had just realized the situation.

"I came to tell you something," she said numbly.

"What?"

"I don’t remember."

They both laughed.

"Well, you're welcome to tell me when you do."

"I wasn’t supposed to bother you while you work. That was the rule."

"Sometimes it's fun breaking the rules."

"Fun?"

"Didn’t you have fun? I had a good time."

"Yes," she laughed. "I had a good time, too."

Maui kissed her head again, caressing the skin of her bare stomach with his thumb.

"I love you, Mo."

Moana covered his hand with her own and gave him a gentle squeeze.

"I love you too."

A pang of pain in her skull reminded her why she wasn’t working.

"I should go, I'm supposed to take a break."

"You can rest here."

"Nah, I don’t want to bother you, besides the noise of rock blows is not the best lullaby." Maui laughed.

"You're right. Up with you then."

They got up ready to go their separate ways, but then Moana stumbled and fell back to the floor on her knees.

"Mo?" He asked worriedly, crouching down beside her. She grimaced nervously and avoided his gaze.

"I'm fine, it's just that you've left my legs a bit unusable."

The wave of concern left him and he smiled back, holding out his hand. She accepted it and they got to their feet.

"Where are you going now?"

"Home," she adjusted her clothes with her hands, pursing her lips when she saw the featherless patches on her clothes. "I don’t think I'm going to work anymore today."

"Sure you're okay? Do you want me to walk you home?"

"No, seriously, I'm fine. You should continue working, I will go to rest and wait for you."

"Okay..." he said uncertainly. Moana stood on tiptoe and kissed him.

"I'm leaving, I'll see you tonight."

Maui gave her a slight squeeze on her arm and watched her go. Once she disappeared through the hollow of the rock he focused again on his sculpture. It had really been moved as it was crooked and closer to the wall. He shook his head and took the tools to continue working. It was then that he saw the streaks of sweat that had left their bodies on the stone and clicked his tongue. He really hoped that the islanders would never know how and why the sculpture had been used by the chief of Motunui and the demigod of the wind and the sea.

Throughout the afternoon he managed to finish the second arm in a flex, showing his pecs. No doubt it was going to be much better than his previous job and that wasn’t even halfway through. He had enough ideas for this project. No doubt it had to be a real image of himself, to show his perfect body, his magnificent hair, how attractive and strong he was and, of course, his tattoos. He had thought of how Moana had carved the cave rock on the stone islet and decided that it would be a perfect detail, rather than paint it with charcoal or pigments that would disappear after one of the common seasonal rains. No, he wanted an image of his tattoos just as they were now, of all of them, and would start with Moana's. He couldn’t wait to see what the sculpture would look like with that beautiful relief in it, a smiling little wayfinder, the love of his life, his best friend and his incredibly beautiful wife.

He smiled and raised the hammer to continue working after his moment of reverie but a thunderous sound caught his attention. He had never heard it on Motunui but he knew the horn wasn’t used for anything other than an emergency. He left what he was doing and ran for his hook, whether it was an attack or a problem on the island he would go to check it and fix it.

He quickly morphed into a hawk and went out the waterfall preferring a damp shortcut to being too late. He flew over the village and saw all the members of the village running to a very familiar house. He looked around the group and his blood froze when he didn’t see her. With a snap he transformed himself a couple of feet from the door of the cabin but Tui stopped him with one hand on his chest before he had a chance to enter.

"What happened? Where is she?"

"They found her on the way to the mountain. She was unconscious, the doctor is with her right now."

Maui was totally petrified for a few moments analyzing each word minutely.

"I need to see her." He made a gesture, but Tui stopped him.

"No, not now, when the doctor finishes and tells us what happens."

"She was fine a while ago, she's been with me this afternoon. If she had been ill I would have known, she would have told me!" He exclaimed.

"Since when does Moana say when she feels bad?" Tui whispered, really his daughter had never complained about anything. If she was ill they wouldn’t realize it until such a situation happened.

Maui lifted his free hand to his head, brushing the hair with hysteria.

"This is my fault, I should have gone with her..."

"This is no one's fault, you know her, she is like that. She is overworked and exhausted.  surely she just needs to rest." He looked him up and down, noticing the onset of an anxiety attack. "And you too. Go to the chief's hut, we'll let you know when we know something."

"No, I won’t move from here."

"I wasn’t asking you." This time Tui's tone left no doubt. It wouldn’t be much help if he created a scene in front of the hut where the doctor was analyzing the condition of the young woman and more when what she needed was silence and rest and he was about to make one of the worst decisions he could right now.

"If anything happens, anything..."

"You'll be the first to know."

Maui walked back in the direction he had come to make the group scatter to let him through. His anxiety followed him all the way to the huge empty hut. He had never seen this building so empty, it was a clear example of how he felt right now.

Once inside, he paced from side to side like an animal caged with the hook firmly grasped in his fist. Mini Maui decided that moment to come alive and look at him with concern.

"She was fine this morning," he murmured, grunting. "We got up together, had breakfast and said goodbye. At lunch time she was there and she was fine."

Mini Maui gestured without being able to give him an answer.

"She came to see me this afternoon. Came to tell me something, but if she was sick she wouldn’t have been in that aroused condition. If she had been ill... and if it was my fault? What if I hurt her?"

No, she had come to see him because she wasn’t working, because she was tired and she was going home. She went to tell him something, what? Maybe that she was ill? He ran his free hand through his hair in exasperation. The wait was the worst. There he was, wear away the tapestry with his step when the woman he loved was waiting in another hut being checked by a witch doctor. And who really knew what experience they had? The mortals didn’t know how to do anything. What if they couldn't take care of her? What if they didn’t know what was wrong?

A horrible image crossed his thoughts, he gasped and stumbled a step backwards swallowing hard to hold back the tears. No, he couldn’t. He couldn’t lose her. He knew that one day he would, he knew that within many years she would return to earth... but not now, _not now_. However selfish it sounded, by the gods, they wouldn’t take her away now.

No, not now or ever. Let her stay with him for all eternity. Just thinking about losing her, waking one morning to an empty bed with a cold memory that would never come back, blinded him. Tears rolled free on his cheeks and his knees buckled, forcing him to a kneeling position on the floor. He stretched his hands in front of him, but his gaze was lost. He saw nothing but darkness before his eyes, a bitter and uncertain future. Nothing was important, for him the islands could return to the sea, the sun disappear and the sky fall on the whole human race. None of that mattered anymore. Humans were weak, humans died, humans would abandon him. That beautiful smile would disappear one day, those eyes that only had light for him would go...

He clenched his fists and sobbed. His magic was supposed to protect her. The pendant on her neck, his mini hook, it had to protect her, he had to protect her, and where had he been? Carving the stone while she fell in the middle of the jungle, where was he? In the house of the leaders while she suffered at home. The smell of ash filled the place. He didn’t want to be alone. He didn’t want to be in a world without her, there was no world without her. He jumped to his feet and squeezed his jaw tightly. No, a life without her would not be life.

Mini Maui raised his arms in a mute cry as Maui's thoughts reached him, in an obvious attempt to stop him. But no, no one was going to stop him. Not this time. No. _For her_.

He ran for the door of the cottage and with a blue flash turned into a hawk and took flight to the small celestial points that began to appear in the sunset.

 

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fanart:  
> [Chapter 13](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/post/164058823711/fanart-for-the-fic-fire-and-dust-chapter-13) by [MagicFishHook](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Explanation of content:
> 
> -The spanking was not planned, it was a request from InuBunnygirl written at the last minute and I hope I could fit it in well with the situation and the characters.  
> -The lavalava is because I'm tired of drawing leaves in the fanarts. For real.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: Hello everyone! We finally made it to the last chapter before the epilogue.  
> Many of you have already discovered the truth, for those who havn’t: I hope you like it!

"... we have already told you," said a voice that she couldn’t identify. "It has to be that..."

"It's impossible," the second voice said. "I don’t want to hear anything about it, nor do I want anything to be said about it in the village, what else can it be?"

"Could be many reasons; Stress, fatigue, that she has eaten something wrong."

"Mom?" she heard herself say. She heard a couple of steps and her mother entered her range of vision.

"Moana, my child, you scared us to death, how are you?"

"My head hurts." Sina nodded and grabbed the cloth on her forehead to moisten it again.

"You have a fever, you'll get well soon."

"What happened?"

"They found you unconscious on the mountain road. They say it might be that you have eaten something bad or out of fatigue."

Moana was young and somewhat weak but knew when her mother was lying. She looked at the healer and saw him swallow, but he made no move. Sina looked over her shoulder and asked him to call Tui.

"Where's Maui?" She asked, looking around without seeing her great friend there.

"He will be with your father, they will arrive soon."

"Water." She sat up, leaning on her arms. Sina brought her a bowl she drank in one gulp.

As her mother had said, Tui arrived moments later.

"How are you?" He asked, taking a seat beside his wife.

"I'm fine. Where's Maui?"

"I told him to go to the chief's hut, that I would keep him informed but he wasn’t there," Tui explained.

Moana frowned.

"He will have gone to pick something up from the cave, and he will be back at once. Now you should rest, so you will recover sooner," Sina said, helping her to lie down again.

"Take all the time you need, we'll let you sleep. As soon as we see Maui, we'll tell him to come and see you."

"Thanks, dad."

"Good evening, daughter." Sina seemed to want to add something else but finally gave her a thin smile and hugged her before leaving, followed by Tui, who waved goodbye with another hug.

Moana avoided the urge to get up and go to find Maui. It was a little annoying that the demigod hadn’t been there when she woke up, but she wasn’t going to give it much thought. She lay down on her side, closed her eyes and fell asleep.

 

* * *

 

She grimaced when the cold water brushed her sleeping face.

“Maui, stop," she growled, waving her hand at the figure sleeping next to her, but she couldn’t touch anyone. She frowned and woke up to sit on her elbows to see what was happening, the simple gesture brought a wave of instability but she fought against the dizziness and looked around. She was back in her room and the dawn light came in the morning. Maui wasn’t at her side and something had woken her up. She touched the floor with her hands and winced at the wet surface, where had the water come from? Was it raining and had a leak again? She looked at the ceiling and the walls but there was no sign of any escape. She felt the liquid again and felt a chill from the cold.

"Wait a moment," she murmured to herself. She crawled to the small wooden chest and searched the surface, finding a pile of wet scrolls. She wouldn’t have left water near her scrolls, she wasn’t that stupid. That's where she used to lean to work on her maps.

"Moana?" She flinched when she heard the voice call her from the door.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" She asked in surprise. She smiled at her and showed her the basket of fruit.

"I came to see how you were, I know it's early but you know me... I'm your mother."

Moana gave her a half smile and let her sit beside her.

"How are you today?"

"I'm fine, better, at least."

Sina put the basket in her lap, Moana looked down and chose a couple of fruits, discarding the rest under the watchful eye of her mother.

"What?" she said with her mouth full of mango.

"Don’t you want a kiwi? I thought they were your favorites, you know, the fruit Maui discovered for you."

Moana swallowed the piece and refused it.

"I've been a little tired of them, maybe over time I'll get it back. Aren’t there any red bananas?"

"I'm afraid when I went to look for them this morning there were no more." Moana nodded a little sadly, she really wanted one of those.

"Speaking of Maui, where is he?" Her mother shrugged.

"We haven’t seen him. Your father and I thought that perhaps he has gone to look for more fruit that you like, I have seen that nothing is left and surely he wanted to have a fresh basket for when you wake up."

Moana frowned.

"Maui usually takes only a day to get back, He has been gone all night."

"He'll be carrying twice as much fruit."

Moana thought for a moment and shrugged. Right now she couldn’t do anything, but as soon as she saw him she would kick his ass for leaving her alone all night without telling her where he had gone.

She couldn’t help noticing her mother's constant gaze on her.

"Mom, I'm fine, really, you can go now. I'm going to stay here for the rest of the day if that makes you worry less." Sina clenched her jaw visibly but nodded with a fake smile.

"It's just that I worry too much, if you need anything, let me know, okay? I'm going to be in the weaving house all morning. Some bad person took advantage of the commotion yesterday and burned the tapestry of the chief's hut, it's going to be hard to replace, but we can’t have the gap there forever, can we?" she laughed at her own joke by walking toward the door. Moana looked at her with her mouth open in surprise.

"Someone has burned the tapestry?"

"Yes, your father noticed yesterday when he went to look for Maui, it's quite large but it can be repaired easily. We will make a nice motif and patch it."

Moana had stopped hearing her now. She knew the power of the magic of Maui, she had seen it first person with the ashes he left in the cave, how he had grown a forest in a night or permanently frozen a ball of ice...

She gasped and sprang to her feet and ran to the chest where the water had appeared. She looked around the corner to be sure and turned pale with fear: The burning on the tapestry, the melted snowball, the disappearance of his magic fruit...

"Moana?" She turned to her mother, her face white as parchment.

"I have to go out."

"Go out? Where?"

"The tapestry, the fruit... are the work of Maui's magic, I have to go." Before she could explain anything else, she pushed her away from the door and fought the dizziness as she ran off despite her precarious attire. The sun was rising over the horizon in the distance but the stars were still visible in the sky. She let nothing stop her on her way to the top of the mountain.

Once she reached the top she fell to her knees and vomited what little she had managed to eat at breakfast. Her body shook, spasm after spasm, while her stomach emptied. She wiped her mouth with her forearm and held back the tears from the itch in her throat. There wasn’t time to let her illness stop her, not now. She stood up and, with a trembling step, reached a pair of rocks. Her hands trembled wildly, her skin was wet with cold sweat, and her eyes clouded, making it impossible to see what was in front of her. It took longer than she could hope to spark the tinder she'd gathered around her because of her trembling hands. Suddenly, a wave of dizziness seized her and fell back to the earth, her body uncontrollably flailing and barely able to breathe through the tremors and infernal heat. She tried to relax, to calm down and breathe, closed her eyes and focused on it. Breathe. Breathe. She didn’t know how long it took to clear that fog that prevented her vision, but this took most of her other symptoms and was able to sit on her knees to continue lighting the fire despite her shaking hands. Nothing would stop her from making the fire of Motunui Mountain burn again. She stood up and went to the edge of the peak with one hand on her stomach and crooked posture, the nausea came back to her and she couldn’t help but get dizzy from the amount of effort she was making.

She lost count of the time she had been waiting. The day had almost dawned and she still had no news of him. She forced herself not to think of the worst, not to see the disappearance of his magic as that of the demigod himself. But as the minutes passed the fear became more present in her heart.

It couldn’t be, Maui had to be somewhere, had to listen to her call. She unconsciously raised her hand to her pendant and clutched it tightly.

"Maui, come here..." she whispered despite the sting in her throat. "Maui, come... come ... come... "the shell creaked in her fingers for the firmness with which it was gripped.

Her breath stirred and her jaw clenched as anger erupted inside her.

"Maui, come now!" her roar was heard all over the island leaving her lungs sore and her breathing heavy. She shook herself again when another wave of nausea overtook her, but the most wonderful sound of the world distracted her from her illness; A hawk.

She looked toward the horizon, waiting for the familiar figure, but the sky was clear. She frowned, confused, where had the scream come from?

She gasped as she saw a shadow fall down the mountain just behind her from the sky. She stood and looked toward the village. For a few seconds nothing happened and then there was a huge explosion with a thunderous noise. Without losing a second, she ran back to the village, her heart pounding in her ears.

When she reached the village, she could see how they all left their houses and gathered around a dusty smoke that came from the area of the crops. They all seemed waiting for the dust to dissipate to know what was happening but she had an idea too concise to wait a second more. She stepped through the crowd and entered the cloud narrowing her eyes to see better. Soon she was able to distinguish a huge hole in the ground that she knew immediately that she hadn’t been there before. She descended the walls of the crater to a warm shape in the middle of the hole. She recognized the disordered hair instantly.

"Maui!" she cried in terror.

She knelt beside him and laid her hands on his body, her eyes filled with tears and she had to suppress the nausea when she saw her hands covered with thick red blood.

"Help! We need help!" she shouted desperately. "Someone to come! Now!"

"Mo..." she listened. She stopped screaming and leaned in surprise to hear him better. "… You are alive…"

"Of course I'm alive, Maui, by the gods, what happened?"

"I heard you..." he whispered in a hard voice. "I heard your call."

"Where were you? What happened?"

"I'm sorry." His voice broke on the last syllable with a sob. "I am so sorry…"

"What are you talking about? You don’t have to apologize for anything!" Maui didn’t answer again. "Maui?"

"Moana?" she heard a few feet away.

"We are here!" by the time a pair of familiar faces arrived the dust was already dissipating. Tui, Siaki, Kamea and a couple of young people from the village went down the crater to help them.

"What happened? Who did this to him?" Tui asked worriedly. Moana glanced back at Maui once the visibility improved and she gasped at the sight of him. He was upside down with his hair covering most of his face but his whole body was full of very deep cuts. Especially one on the side of the one that never ceased to emanate blood. Surely, anything that could have done this to him was something to be feared.

"That doesn’t matter now, we have to take him home and call the healer," a couple of young men nodded and ran out to follow orders. Siaki and Tui looked at each other decisively; It was going to be difficult, but they were going to take him home.

As they thought, it was a very hard job to drag a very hurt and unconscious Maui back to the cottage he shared with Moana.

The youth group had warned the healer and he was now mending the wounds of the demigod in the hut. As the healer needed help because of the severity and amount of cuts, and Maui was of such size, he asked Moana to wait outside so they could have all the space they need to work. She had reluctantly accepted, had preferred not to insist given that every second counted at that time. She didn’t know what level of injury Maui could take before breaking but it was certainly not something she wanted to discover. What had done that to him? Why did he ask for forgiveness like that? There were so many questions she had as she waited, kneeling at the door of her own home with her parents on either side to give her support and company. Maui was known all over the island so all the inhabitants had stopped their duties, whatever they were, and waited behind them with low prayers and hopeful whispers. Siaki had approached them at some point with the hook for Moana, but none of the three members of the chiefs' family had made a gesture of taking it. Only Maui could take back his magic hook when he woke up.

More than an hour later the healer appeared covered in blood to the elbows, the rest of his companions didn’t look much better, and that constricted the throat of the young woman with an anguished sob. His pale stony face didn’t give her hope.

"We have healed what we could," he explained in a soft voice, those who had accompanied him moved away, probably to rest and wipe their blood. "But there are many, many, too many wounds" there was a tense silence. "Some _very_ deep, I'd never seen a body shattered this way, and if he were human..." He stopped talking to swallow and clenched his fists at his sides. "We have done what we could and he being a demigod we will wait a few hours to see how it evolves but... I don’t think he will survive."

Her parents were there to catch her when her legs failed. She felt her heart twist in her chest until it cracked and everything broke around her. Her throat tasted of tears and sobbing that was seconded by the roar of voices behind her.

"What's going to happen now?"

"What will we do without the protection of the demigod?"

"And the crops?"

"Will the fish disappear?"

Tui turned to them with his head held high and a menacing posture.

"Silence! What nonsense are you saying? Maui is part of our tribe, our family. He has taken care of our children, sang our songs, danced our dances, shared food, travels and joys and sorrows with us. Fear not for the demigod, but for our brother."

The voices were hushed to become a repentant murmur.

"Tui, I'll take her inside," Sina said. She looked at the healer for advice and he nodded. He had already done all he could do, now it was only a matter of time. If there was any left.

Sina helped her daughter into the house and everyone closed their eyes in apprehension at the muffled cry of the young woman when she saw her husband.

Tui gave a long sigh trying to hold back and returned to look at his people who were less fortunate than him to hide the pain.

"All activities today are cancelled but we need silence to help in his recovery. Pray for him and hope that the gods hear us."

 

* * *

 

Moana let out another sob, swaying from front to back, compulsively trying desperately to silence the pain in her heart. The attack on Lalotai was terrifying, the fact that Maui was wounded that way because of her was a regret she had lived with for many months but this... this was out of her worst nightmares. Maui was worse than bad. The bandage on his side, however thick and strong, couldn’t staunch the bleeding, He had another series of cuts on the rest of the body but the healer warned her that if there was one to worry about, one that could cost him his life, was that one. He had several areas blackened with patches of purple bruises underneath his tattoos, had a deep cut on his left cheek and deep dark circles under his eyes, in contrast to the strange and sickly ash color of his skin. Her mother had left the hut after an argument  and between screams, she had kicked her out. She didn’t want anyone there with them, not now. Sina thought Moana might eat something if it were available, so she put a basket through the tapestry on the doorway, but she hadn’t been able to take her eyes off Maui for a second. In that second the life of her best friend, her husband, could be extinguished and if that happened... if that happened he wouldn’t leave alone, she would be there grabbing his hand until the end as he promised to do with her.

"Don’t leave me," she pleaded with a broken sob. She had asked for it so many times in the last few hours that the words sounded more like a mantra. "Please, Maui... I'll do whatever you want, but don’t leave me... " she held his left hand, the one that was least hurt, trying hard to give him all possible support, as if, in a way, she could reverse the damage done and make him open his eyes and smile again with that huge white-teeth smile he had.

Another sob escaped her lips without her knowing what to do to remedy the situation. What do you do when the love of your life is lying there in front of you with his life hanging on a thread?

For countless hours she sat there beside him, still holding his hand, with the constant swaying of her body as the only movement. She prayed to all the gods her grandmother taught her, the spirits and the tides, her grandmother, Maui's grandmother, Te Fiti, the ocean, and even the demons of Lalotai. Whoever it was. If there was a creature that would give Maui back to her she would give them what they wanted, they could take it all from her, she just wanted to see Maui awake.

"Please..." she sobbed. The light intensified and she looked up at her mother, who had lit a torch. She was so focused on Maui that she hadn’t noticed the growing darkness that surrounded them with the arrival of the night.

"Moana," she ignored her, not taking her eyes off Maui. "Daughter, I know it's hard, but you have to eat."

"Eating will not bring him back to life," she spat acidly. Nothing she did was going to bring him back to life.

"It's not just his life that worries me. You must eat."

"There's nothing that can fill my stomach now. You don't understand! He's dying! He's dying and I can’t help it! I want him to live! I want him back! Bring him back to me!"

Sina arrived in a couple of strides and knelt beside her to hug her.

"Moana, there is a limit to what a mother can do." She framed her face with her hands and wiped the tears from her cheeks with her thumbs. "I can’t promise you anything more than that I'm going to be here with you. Whatever happens, Moana, you're not going to face this alone."

Moana let out an agonized moan, she hugged her in despair, letting her tears flow freely in a bewildered cry.

"I want him to come back," she repeated, still crying.

"I know, my child, I know."

"I love him, mom." Sina let out a small sob.

"I know, we all know."

"I didn’t tell him enough, I should have told him every day, why didn’t I?"

"I-I knew..." They both tensed at the sound of the snore and under a whisper. Moana turned abruptly and grabbed his hand again in despair, as if that might keep him there.

"Maui? Maui, are you?" she let out a small gasp at the blink of an eye. "Can you hear me?"

Maui's eyes were clouded and he didn’t seem very aware of where he was.

"Where…?"

"You're with me, you're home, Maui." She caressed his cheek, brushing away a rebellious lock of hair from his forehead.

"I’m… home?" With those words he seemed to be right and with a flicker his eyes focused on her. "Moana?"

"Maui!" She let out a sigh of relief, tightening her grip on his hand. "Maui, it's me, you're home." She heard the sound of her mother's astonishment behind her but she ignored her, this was more important.

"No, it can't be." At the astonished look of the two women, Maui let go of her grip and tried to sit up, his face disheveled with terror. Moana rose to her knees and pushed him back to the bed, resting her hands on his chest.

"Where do you think you're going? You're not going to leave here!"

"I have to get out of here." His whisper was almost inaudible but concise and full of fear. "I can’t stay, _she_ will find me."

"What?" Moana blinked with a wave of pure terror. Whatever Maui had been up against, _she_ was coming to finish the job.

"I need to get out of here."

"No, you will not leave, here you are safe."

"She will find me."

"We will hide you," she cried desperately.

"She smell my magic, she will find me," he repeated without much sense. "No... I need a canoe, get away from here, where's my hook?"

"You aren’t going anywhere!" She shouted, pushing him back to the bed, but Maui didn’t seem to care. "Mom, go get some help now!"

Sina got up quickly and ran out of the hut.

"You don’t understand, I must walk away." He stared at her for a few seconds, his eyes wide with fear. "Give me your necklace, I have to take it."

"My necklace?" she frowned at him, beginning to believe that he had really lost his mind. She didn’t know if in this state Maui could be more dangerous to himself.

"The hook, the mini hook I made you..." he coughed, crying out in pain as the movement affected the wounds on his side.

At that moment Tui arrived with a small group, Siaki among them, with the hook. From the look of his face, you could tell that he had been having an equally bad time thinking about the death of his friend.

"What's going on?" He asked, looking at the scene in surprise. Maui was still desperately trying to get up, but she hadn’t energy left to stand up and less to fight her grip.

"We need to hide him."

"Where?"

"The cave, we need to take him to the cave."

"No!" Maui roared with another wave of coughs. "You don’t understand... if I don’t go she will find me... the whole island is in danger."

"You're talking nonsense!" Cried Moana.

"Te-Pō," he whispered almost with fear. "Hine-nui-te-pō," he repeated, trying to get some air to breathe, Moana could hear the hiss of air from the huge cut on his side, signaling a punctured lung. "The goddess of death... the goddess of twilight... will not stop. She will sweep Motunui clean in searching for me." He stared at Tui knowing he would understand what he meant. "I need to get out of here. She will come at dusk."

Moana looked at her father, her face disengaged with pain, thick tears streaming down her cheeks.

"We can hide in the cave," she whispered in a broken voice, the only sound in the room apart from the drowned breath of the demigod.

Her father frowned at her and went to open his mouth but she went ahead.

"If Maui leaves the island, I'm going with him."

"To the cave with him," he said as if she hadn’t interrupted him. Maui let out a moan that illustrated his fear of the possible consequences, but the group of young men and Tui grabbed him hard and got him to his feet preparing for the long, hard march ahead of them.

Moana decided to go ahead with supplies, medicines and blankets. As they left the hut behind them, ready to run to the cave, she noticed something and knew that it was the reason his father had given him a second chance: It was already night and Te-Pō hadn’t appeared. Maybe it was not all over.

It took more than an hour and several shifts each to carry the demigod back to the cave. Moana was already waiting for them there with a bed prepared and a small bonfire to light the place. Once Maui was in place they all lay on the floor exhausted and trying to regain strength. The demigod had once again fallen into unconsciousness.

"He's going to try it again tomorrow," Tui said to Moana. She didn’t have to ask for explanations, she knew he meant that Maui would try to run away again.

"I know, I'll find a way to keep him here."

"I'll talk to the people tomorrow. Maui says that goddess will come at dusk, we'll sleep in the chief's hut all together."

There was a mute question in his words and she caught it instantly.

"I'll stay with him."

"Me too." A third voice entered the conversation, and Moana turned to see Siaki with the hook on the floor beside him. "In case I can be useful in some way."

Moana shook her head.

"No, I want you to help protect our people should they need it, we'll be fine." Siaki had been a warrior on his island, that had been years ago, and he had probably never confronted a god - other than Maui - but there was little help. That’s all they needed.

Siaki nodded not very convinced, Sina moved to her side.

"Moana, I'll stay with you."

"No, I don’t want anyone here. We'll be fine, don’t worry."

None of them seemed totally convinced but didn’t dare to speak.

"If Te-Pō appears..." his father began. She interrupted him.

"If she appears I will do what I have always done, I will confront her and try to fix the situation."

From the face of one of the young men and the sideways glances at the shattered demigod, she realized that they didn’t believe there was much that could be fixed if someone had destroyed Maui like this.

"You'd better go now," she said softly. "You need rest, we all need it."

"Are you ok?" Sina asked worriedly. Moana glanced at the sleeping body and shook her head slightly.

"We're not okay until this happens, until he's safe... but we will, we're not going to stop fighting."

"He's going to try to escape again tomorrow."

"I know, that's why I need you to bring me some things," she said quietly.

After giving a list of necessary objects to her mother, thanking her friends and hugging her father, everyone said goodbye. Before leaving, Siaki set the hook in a secluded part of the cave. He knew it could be useful, but he didn’t want to leave it near Maui in case Moana got distracted and he managed to run away forever, but had to be close enough to get to in case it was needed. Moana thanked him with a hug and let him go. Once alone she returned to Maui.

She didn’t know when she began to hum, but the words came alone and ended up singing a sad song about the sea, freedom, life, love and them. She sang until the crying caught her and her voice stopped ringing.

"I once told you that if I heard you singing I would vomit." She heard a whisper. She gasped and looked at Maui who was staring at her with a clouded look. "I've never been more wrong in my whole life."

Moana let out a sob and kissed his hand.

"Mo... I'm afraid..." he said in a soft tone. Moana laughed and looked at him with a pitiful smile.

"That means you're alive."

Moana gripped his hand tightly and continued singing despite the tears and pain but by the time she looked at him he had already fallen into unconsciousness again.

 

* * *

 

"How is he?" Sina asked.

"Asleep. Did you bring everything?" She asked sleepily as she saw her mother arrive early in the morning. She had tried so hard not to fall asleep for fear that Maui would wake up and leave but he hadn’t reacted all night.

"Yes, also food for you, has he woken up again?"

"No." She yawned and winced when she saw what was in the fruit basket. "There wasn’t anything else?"

"Our provisions are dwindling," was all she said, no further explanation, she knew that the magic of Maui was failing.

Without another word she took one of the bananas and peeled it with a grimace.

"Where is what I asked of you?" her mother pointed to a second secluded basket. After a few seconds in silence Sina spoke.

"Why do you think he faced that goddess?" Moana clenched her jaw and stopped chewing. She swallowed and avoided her gaze.

"I don’t know, I don’t want to talk about it until he explains it to me." She had already known the name of that goddess before and, with Maui apologizing, she had a slight idea but she preferred not to think about it too much until he explained himself.

She yawned again, shaking her head to wake up.

"Lie down, I can keep watch and you'll be rested for tonight."

"I will, thank you, but not yet. I have to prepare a medicine for him."

"What kind of medicine? We could have told the healer."

"No, this is a medicine that only Maui knew how to make. I saw him do it so many times that I learned but didn’t know what plants he needed. He told me that you helped him once to collect the plants."

Sina nodded, remembering how strange it had been to her that Maui had asked about those plants.

"What does it do?"

"It blocks the pain" Sina looked at Maui, he didn’t seem to feel pain at that moment but she knew why she said it; Not being seen didn’t mean that it wasn’t there and with what his injuries were, she knew that it was not easy for him.

"How do you prepare it? We can use it for our people too." Moana shook her head without looking at her.

"It's hard to do it, you have to chew the plants together and spit them in a pot."

"Chew the-? Moana, a lot of those plants are poisonous, it's very dangerous," she said harshly.

"I know, I'll be careful, nothing will happen."

"I can’t let you do it," Sina said firmly. Moana frowned at her.

"I have to do it."

"No, I will."

"Mom, no, don’t talk nonsense."

"There's nothing more to say about."

"This is silly, Maui is my husband I must be the one who-"

"And you're my daughter," she said. "You're sick, the last thing I'll do is leave you near poisonous plants."

They both looked at each other with fire in their eyes, they seemed very much like each other.

"I will not do the medicine."

_'For now'_

She wasn’t going to let her mother get sick but she wasn’t going to let Maui suffer either. She'd been pleasantly surprised when he woke last night, better than to see him lying still. He was far from safe, but now she was relieved to know there might be a way for him to recover. If Maui continued to fight he would succeed.

"Moana." Her mother caught her attention and she blinked tiredly at her. "Go to sleep, I'll let you know if you wake up. You need to rest for tonight."

It's not that she could rest well. She had spent a horrible night between cries and moments of hysteria and anguish that had ended by exhausting her almost to fainting, but falling asleep was an arduous task because of the fear of waking up and not finding him at her side. It was to her mother's promise to be aware that she could finally let unconsciousness catch her.

When a touch woke her was already well into the afternoon by the colors that passed through the curtain of water. At first she was afraid that the warning was due to a problem with the health of Maui or that he had woken up and was struggling to leave again but when she opened her eyes he only saw her mother with an indulgent smile.

"Mom? Something happened?" Sina shook her head. "How is Maui?"

Sina handed her a coconut bowl and she took it with a raised eyebrow. She looked at the contents and gasped.

"Mom! What have you done?" she said when she saw the familiar greenish paste in the bottom of the empty coconut. Sina smiled again and caressed her cheek.

"I'm fine, your mother knows many tricks," her accent was awful, her mouth numb from the plants but Moana understood her perfectly.

"But why?" Sina wiped the tear down her cheek.

"You are my daughter, your health and happiness are more important than anything for me."

Moana hugged her mother desperately, burying her face in her chest. These last days had been horrible and her attitude hadn’t been the best, but she knew her mother would be there no matter what, and at that moment she had no words to thank her.

"We have to put it on," Sina said, pulling her away with a loving caress.

"Yes." They rose to their feet and approached Maui. Sina picked up a couple of clean cloths to change the bandages, and Moana removed the ones he had in order to apply the medicine without hindrance. The cuts were raw and looked terrible and infected. Moana had to swallow a gag when the sweet smell of the infection reached her nose and she covered her face to work without letting the smell get through.

Between the two, they covered the wounds slightly spreading the cream. It was all they could to reach the most painful. It was an arduous task because of the size of the demigod and it was hard for Moana to have to see Maui in that state. She had never seen him so still.

When the green paste was finished they had to fight between the two of them to move the huge body and thus put the bandages back on. The continuous friction and pressure finally pulled the demigod out of his unconsciousness and he tensed as he felt hands on him. Realizing that, Moana leaned toward him, grasping his hand, staring at his, waiting for some kind of recognition.

"Maui? Are you awake?" Sina began to move backwards slowly, trying not to alert him of her presence. She took the basket that she had brought that morning and approached with it to Moana in silence.

"Moana?" This time he looked more lucid and returned her gaze.

"You're here." She let out a sigh of relief, glad to see him.

"Where I am?"

"In the cave, you're safe."

"Motunui?"

"Yes, you're at home." Moana noticed the precise moment when Maui realized where and with whom he was. He looked at the waterfall to see the light and calculate the time, then turned to look at her with his pupils dilated with fear.

"I have to go."

 _'Not again...'_ Moana grunted, squeezing his hand, noticing the tear stinging in her eyes.

"No." Maui ignored her and continued talking.

"I must go... you are in danger. When she realizes that I am not dead, that I have fled, she will come."

"No one's coming, you're safe."

"None of us are, Moana," he said in a sharp tone that made him gasp and moan at the prick of pain in his ribs. "I need a canoe," he looked down at her pendant. "And the necklace."

"What's in my necklace?"

"The hook, the one I made you. I did it with the remains of my other hook. The ocean gave it to me and I carved it," he hissed. "It is loaded with my magic, it will act as a beacon for Te-Pō. I must take it and get away from here."

Moana swallowed at her next question.

"When you say you have to go... It's not to go back, is it?" The empty look in his dark eyes was all the response she needed and shook her head, letting the tears down her cheeks. "No, I will not let you." Maui squeezed her hand lightly.

"Moana, listen to me; I'm going to die. I'm not going to put Motunui, or you, in danger because of me. She will come at dusk, if not today it will be tomorrow and she will devastate all the life she finds in her path."

Moana lowered her head, letting her hair hide her pitiful face as she shook her head.

"Te-Pō is not like Te Fiti, that you can give her heart and live happily ever after. Te-Pō has no heart. I have to go."

He made the gesture of getting up without receiving a single complaint from the young woman. He had barely gotten up on his elbows when he felt a terrible throb in the thigh. He looked down in surprise and saw Moana's hand holding three very familiar darts stuck into his skin.

"The kakamora trade in our port every week," Moana said in a whisper, her face still hidden in her hair.

"Moana no..." The dream wave pierced his body, making his eyelids heavy.

"One dart sleeps your body, two darts your mind, three darts," she swallowed saliva remembering the small talks that had had with the pirates during their visits, "will be able to sleep a demigod."

With a last, pleading look at those dark, watery eyes, Maui closed his eyelids and fell asleep.

Moana drew the darts from his leg and returned them to the basket her mother had brought. She knew that Maui would try something and that as time went by his body would recover until it reached a point where she couldn’t withstand him. It had been fortunate for her to remember the Kakamora ship still docked in the harbor and told her mother to go for a handful of darts. They had been incredibly effective.

"Moana," her mother said to her. She stared at the waterfall to see the time and turned to Sina.

"Mom, I have to go for something. Stay here, I'll come back right away."

She stood firmly and walked to the exit of the cave. If she was going to start a battle for the survival of Motunui she would need to get ready for it.

 

* * *

 

Sina was finishing gently tying the knot in one of his arm bandages as the footsteps through the cave rang again and she turned to see her daughter walk down the terrace of the gallery.

She opened her mouth in surprise at the sight of her robes; Blue, green and red feathers spread in harmony and zigzag motifs with a crown of colored pearls and matching shells. Her wrists and ankles decorated with the same colors to finish the set and her oar was strongly grasped in her hand showing the perfect carvings made by the most expert carvers of the island and, in the middle of the engraving, a heart and a hook that knew Immediately who had done it.

"From where-?"

"Maui brought me the feathers months ago." She sat down beside her, caressing her lover's skin in a sweet greeting. "It has been finished for weeks but I wanted to wear it for a special occasion. There is no better occasion than this."

"You look beautiful," her mother whispered. Moana smiled at her before turning her gaze to the waterfall.

"Go home, mom. It is nightfall."

"You will be fine?"

"Yes, we will."

After a hug Sina bent to join their foreheads and with a last glance left them alone. Moana watched her leave and turned toward Maui. She felt a bitter pain for having made him sleep like that, but there would be a future where both could talk about it and forgive each other. For now she approached Maui, kissed his lips and rose to go to the edge of the waterfall lake. She sat there and stared at the water column.

 

* * *

 

Te Kā had been terrifying.

Since she could hardly speak, her grandmother had told her stories about Maui, Te Fiti and the lava demon. She knew from the first moment that Te Kā was going to be a terrifying creature that would haunt her in her nightmares for many years. Tamatoa had been terrifying too, and the giant bats, and the monster that attacked them in Lalotai... So, despite not knowing for sure what to expect of Te-Pō, she prepared herself mentally for a terrifying creature.

But she could never have imagined something so brutally frightening.

She knew right away when the goddess arrived. She was still kneeling on the spot, looking toward the waterfall, watching as the ocher colors of the afternoon gave way to the darkness. When the water turned golden from the sunlight, the torches of the cave were lit and she knew immediately that they were no longer alone.

The light in the waterfall turned gray with the presence of a huge shadow behind the other side of the water column. Soon this began to divide as a face slowly entered. Moana stood with the oar firmly clasped in her hand to keep her trembling legs from letting her fall and let her see the growing fear that was beginning to seep through her body. The goddess was so immense that she could only put her head in the hollow of the waterfall but it was enough to take the breath out of her lungs.

What was in front of her was a huge barracuda with greasy, clammy skin, the pointed, yellowish teeth protruding from her brittle lips, her hair dripping down her face like sticky algae. But what most caught her attention were those red eyes. Reds like fire, like lava... fixed on them with a predatory look.

Moana took a step forward and struck the ground with the oar looking up at the goddess.

"I'm Moana of Motunui, chief of Motunui!"

The red eyes stared at her for a few seconds and then they rose to the unconscious Maui. Moana struck the floor again to get her attention.

"I know why you're here, but that's not going to happen."

"That demigod has an outstanding debt to me," said a hissing, hoarse voice in a menacing tone. Moana was slow to realize that it was the goddess herself who spoke.

"He's part of my tribe. I'll pay off the debt!"

"Stupid mortal You don’t even understand the nonsense that your dirty mouth speaks!" The huge row of teeth opened, showing a gummy black tongue.

"I will pay his debt!" She repeated in a scream.

"I have no interest in you, I have come for him."

Moana took a step beside her, standing between her and Maui.

"He is Maui of Motunui, he is my husband and he is under my protection."

Those words seemed to slam into the head of the goddess as she stopped looking at Maui and stared ruby eyed at her. The small grimace of astonishment turned into pure anger after a long exhalation, as if she were sniffing the air.

"You stink of him," said the voice in a low, menacing whisper. "How dare you! Give it back to me!"

This time the mouth moved as she screamed and the huge row of sharp teeth rushed toward her. Moana fell backward with the oar protectively in place and screamed as she hovered over her.

There was a bestial roar, and suddenly Maui appeared over her, grasping the goddess's jaws with his hands.  
  


"Maui!" Cried Moana, seeing him. Maui didn’t look away from her teeth, fighting with all his might to keep her mouth open and away from them. Te-Pō narrowed her eyes and increased the strength causing the demigod's feet to sink and slide down the earth.

Maui stifled a cry of pain and spit a ball of blood that descended down his jaw, falling on his bandaged chest.

"Stop!" Cried Moana. The goddess gave him a headbutt causing him to shoot through the air and fall several meters back. Moana quickly rose to her feet and ran toward him with her oar in her hands as her only protection.

"Give it back!" Roared Te-Pō.

"We have nothing that belongs to you!"

"You stink of him! It's disgusting!" Moana looked at her uncomprehendingly and reached for the pendant to take out the hook.

"It's just this! Maui gave it to me!"

"Not that, stupid mortal, the heart of our _Mother_!"

Moana opened her mouth in surprise and looked at Maui. He was on all fours trying to breathe, staring at them through a gap in the curtain of his hair. Maui stared at her blankly and shook his head slightly. He didn’t know what she was talking about either.

"What mother?"

"She means Te Fiti..." Maui gasped for breath. Moana turned to the goddess.

"We don’t have Te Fiti's heart."

"Liar! You are pregnant by a demigod! It is impossible without the _Mother's heart_!" She roared, gritting her teeth. Moana heard Maui's choked gasp behind her but her mind could not react. All she could do was bring a hand to her stomach and squeeze it desperately.

"We don’t have the heart..." Moana whispered and looked up into those red eyes. "We returned it nine years ago, we returned it to Te Fiti herself."

"She's the one," Maui said. "The one chosen by the ocean to return the stolen heart."

Te-Pō's jaws closed and she stared at them in mute silence for a moment.

"Did you return the heart to Te Fiti?" Said the voice in a softer tone, looking at Moana with something like condescension. " _Mother Island_ is humble and generous with her children..."

"But she already gave me a canoe and saved my island," Moana murmured uncomprehendingly.

"A canoe and an island in exchange for the salvation of the world and the release of a curse and insufferable pain for a thousand years?" Te-Pō's tone was sardonic, as if she found something so small as a gift worthy of a goddess like Te Fiti.

"What gift did she give me?" She asked in a broken whisper.

"The gift of life," eyes narrowed. "You didn’t know?"

The young woman shook her head and Te-Pō again gritted her teeth at Maui.

"You knew it!" She hissed at him.

"No!" Maui shouted in despair.

"Liar! Why else come to my kingdom and rape me in my sleep if it was not for this?"

"What?" Moana looked at Maui, her face disheveled. He looked at her in terror but she faced the goddess. "Maui would never do that!"

"You let this useless stuff fill your head with stupid dreams and fantasies. He's an animal."

"No, he never would do that!"

"Moana, she’s right." He swallowed, avoiding her gaze so as not to see the betrayal in her eyes. "It was the only way to get immortality, to reverse the process of birth... to leave by her mouth, fighting a way through her body."

Te-Pō's laughter was cold and hysterical, filled with anger.

"You knew, you came to stole from me the power of immortality for your half-breed offspring. You fooled a human for your own selfish interests."

"No!" He shouted, interrupting her, lowering his head and grabbing the sand with his fists, letting out a sob. "Moana was sick... I thought," he swallowed with a shudder," I thought I was going to lose her. I knew she didn’t want immortality, I knew it" he hit the earth with his fists,"but I didn’t want to see her die, I can’t see her die! I didn’t care if she spent eternity hating me for it because she would be alive. Her eternal hatred is a price I am willing to pay for her life."

"She was not going to die, her body is getting used to the change and the new magic."

"And how did I know that? They didn’t let me see her, I couldn’t even take her hand. If I had known, if I had known I would make her ill, I would never... It never occurred to me that she was... " He couldn’t finish the sentence.

Moana squeezed his shoulder and he, with a trembling hand, gently grasped one of her ankles like a lifeguard.

Te-Pō showed her fangs and opened her mouth to speak but a roar and a series of impacts stopped her.

A huge group filled the cave armed with spears and harpoons and surrounded the pair facing a surprised Te-Pō. Moana opened her mouth as she recognized her father beside her with his face covered with paint, but he made no move to acknowledge her. Siaki appeared on the other side of her with his body stained with war drawings and a fierce grimace.

"You came..." she gasped. "Why?"

"Did you want us to stay hidden without fighting?" Instead of Siaki answering, a head popped up beside him and Moana's mouth dropped open in surprise as she recognized Arona under layers of paint and feathered.

"The people of Motunui will remain united," said another voice behind them, whom Moana recognized as Napo's, and another group joined in with howls.

Tui gave a loud roar followed by the rest of the tribe and they struck hard on the ground doing a menacing and brutal _haka_ . Moana let out a sob as she saw her people there, rushing to her aid. She stepped away from Maui and took her place with her father, accompanying them in the _haka_ with the most furious and frightening face she could put in spite of the tears.

The dance ended with everyone doing the _pūkana_ and the weapons ready.

Te-Pō ran her furrowed eyes across them, her mouth half open in a muted grimace.

"All this for a dying demigod," she murmured, and stared at her. "He will not survive another day and you are risking your lives for him."

"If he has to die," Moana stepped forward, her face held high, not allowing her words to tremble. "He will do it surrounded by the people who love him. Not murdered away from his home. We will be there to hold his hand until the end."

"Are you going to endanger a whole people for a demigod?"

"No" this time it was Siaki who stepped forward," but we will do it for one of our brothers."

The whole group gave a roar of affirmation, striking their chest repeatedly. The goddess scanned them all until she reached Maui.

"I'll give you what you've come for, demigod." Moana and Maui tensed, all of them looking at her alertly and with some fear, raising their weapons in position as the huge mouth opened its mouth in a devilish smile. "I'm going to give you your longed for immortality just for you. No matter what happens; Your wounds will regenerate, your heart will beat again, your lungs will breathe and there will be no creature or demon able to pull the spirit out of your body. You will live for all eternity, seeing the people you love die, you will see your people die, your wife and children, they will all disappear before your eyes until you are totally alone and unable to reunite with them."

Maui looked at her with a pale face, her whole body trembling uncontrollably.

"And when you want to die, when your life is so unhappy that you can’t stand another second of your miserable existence," she took a dramatic silence with eyes blazing with anger, "you will have to come to me and _beg_ " she spat the word," me to end your suffering."

The demigod looked at her in terror, but before he could speak Te-Pō's eyes narrowed and an electric current of pure pain ran through his body, causing him to open his mouth and let out a thunderous scream. Moana screamed his name and rushed toward him trying to hold him, but his body twisted uncontrollably on the floor until he was completely still. The group around them surrounded him worried but still attentive to their huge guest.

"Why?" Moana didn’t know why or what she was asking but couldn’t silence her voice. Te-Pō looked at her seriously.

"Because I owe you," she said, she closed her eyes and threw her head back, leaving the cave under the alert cry of the tribe.

"Go back to the village!" Shouted Tui. Everyone present ran to the waterfall and rushed back to the village. Te-Pō had made a move to leave but they wouldn’t be safe until they actually saw her leave and the women, children and the elderly had been left unprotected on the village.

Moana was kneeling next to Maui with her eyes lost and analyzing again and again Te-Pō's last sentence in her mind.

_'I owe you.'_

What Te-Pō had just done was a twisted gift that would degenerate into a dark and brutal revenge. She had given Maui a second chance, for her, as a thank-you for returning the heart of the _Mother Island_ , but in turn had taken revenge for his actions. She had seen that Maui was loved here, was part of a tribe and a family, and she was going to make him live each and every one of the deaths of those he loved and then fulfill her revenge and kill him when he had nothing left, to him to be able to meet with them again. And she was going to make him beg for it.

She hated herself for her tears of relief, for her selfishness, because one thing was clear: Maui would live. He would recover, they would talk and everything would return to normal. Then she remembered that spark of life springing up inside her and wrapped her arms around her waist. She was pregnant. From Maui. That was the reason for her dizziness, her fainting, nausea, and illness. Her body was becoming accustomed to a life she couldn’t give without the magic of Te Fiti. Then she remembered what that voice was that asked her to remember something she had forgotten; She had been so busy, so immersed in her life and her happiness that she had completely forgotten the monthly calendar where she marked her days of the period, how much time had passed since then? one month? two?

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to look at her mother. She had her hair tied in a bun and her face covered with the same paintings as the warriors. She was so absorbed and lost in the battle that she not realized that her mother had come to fight for them. Then she realized one thing: the discussion with the healer on the night of her faintness, her meticulous words, her sneaking looks, her interest in her to eat, for her illness, for her to not to chew those poisonous plants.

"You knew," she whispered, looking at her in surprise and disbelief. Her mother looked at her in bewilderment until she felt the hand around her stomach wrapped protectively.

"The healer told me that your symptoms could be due to pregnancy."

"Why did you not tell me?" Sina frowned and shook her head.

"How could I? You told me you couldn’t have children. When they told me you were pregnant... I didn’t want to believe it, I know that you loved, that you love "she corrected with a furtive glance at the unconscious body of the demigod" Maui. I thought it was an error of the healer but I didn’t want to risk it. I am afraid that this will end your relationship, that this will destroy you."

"Mom, Maui knows, it's his... it's his." Sina looked at her in surprise and covered her mouth with her hands, avoiding a sob.

"How is it possible?"

"Te Fiti, It is a gift from the goddess. We didn’t know... Mom, I'm going to have a baby. "Sina let out a laugh that ended in tears and they hugged each other in tears until Tui arrived with reinforcements, assuring that the goddess had left the island, and helped bring Maui back to the village. _To home._

All the way, even with one hand on her nonexistent stomach, Moana came to a terrible realization, what if Maui decided to leave now?

 

* * *

 

Getting Maui back to the village was undoubtedly easier than taking him up, but still a hard job. Moana insisted that he should go home, wake up in a place that he recognized and felt safe and where he could be quickly intervened in case of need.

Having him back in their hut brought a refreshing wave of tranquility over her. He was there, he was going to be fine, he was going to survive. It was all she could think of at that moment, because thinking about what could happen once he woke up made her stomach turn and the nausea came back hard. No, she would think of the present, the future was still to be seen, as always.

She spent every day at his side, sleeping next to him like every night, brushing his hair and talking about how the village was going during those days, but Maui didn’t seem ready to wake up soon. Not until his wounds healed.

She had to make a difficult decision for her people, and it was to go back to her duties while Maui remained unconscious so that when he woke she could take all the time she needed at his side. She woke up every morning beside him, kissed his sleeping lips, his cheeks, his eyelids, his nose and forehead. She brushed his hair, left a basket with some fruit nearby, in case he needed it, and left. Not without before, of course, leaning to reach his ear and tell him that she loved him. She was never going to leave without telling him how much she loved him.

Now that she was back in the village looking after her people, she saw them with new eyes. Motunui was a peaceful village, a paradise, its inhabitants were fishermen, farmers and gatherers, they weren’t warriors, not even hunters, and yet they had all come together to fight together nothing more or nothing less than a god. They radiated love and affection for each other and never imagined that this love could endow them with such wonderful strength and courage, but again Motunui had demonstrated its uniqueness. It was so beautiful as unique and all thanks to its people.

"What do you want us to do with the orders of the ships that left?" asked a young woman pointing to a pile of completely folded fabrics ready for a delivery that would not occur. With the imminent arrival of a threat, Tui had warned all the merchants to evacuate the port and many of the orders were left unfinished.

"We'll keep them for a week if they come in their search, otherwise we'll sell them to the next merchants," she said after a little thought.

"Okay, thank you, Moana." They both said good-bye with a smile and Moana left the tapestry house to continue her journey with one hand to her stomach without realizing it. It was a very common gesture with her lately and had done nothing to change it. This touch was something that assured her that it was real, that she would become a mother. She smiled as she remembered her father's astonished face when her mother and she told him the news and how the town erupted in cheers talking about parties and feasts. The chiefs fully agreed that it was necessary to celebrate, but not now, not until _all_ the members of the tribe could meet together. She would go through the house of craftsmanship before returning home to be with Maui, her father would take care of the rest of the functions for now.

As she walked on, she heard a commotion start behind her. With a frown she looked over her shoulder and watched as the people watched and murmured pointing in one direction. She felt a burning of terror in her chest and she turned to run to where the voices whispered.

There, in the middle of the village, and walking aimlessly, was Maui. His step was slow and exhausted, with a leaning posture leaning on his hook so as not to fall and his other hand gripping his bruised side. His unfocused gaze raced furiously until his eyes locked on her. His face paled and practically ran toward Moana. At first she thought he would embrace her, but before he reached her, he knelt at her feet with his head bowed to the ground, leaving the hook to one side as an offering.

"What-?" Moana opened her mouth but the question died on her lips from the demigod's next words.

"Please, I beg you." His voice was broken and worn out by despair and disuse. "I'll leave here, I'll leave the island, you will not see me again... but please… " He swallowed a sob and shook his head. "I'll take it, you will not see us again, please... no... the baby... no... don’t throw it at... "he choked, unable to finish the sentence and his body shuddered. No need, Moana knew exactly what he was asking and covered her mouth in a choked cry.

She realized at the time that she shouldn’t have let him wake up alone. Not with all the doubts and circumstances that had remained unresolved between them. With Maui betraying her confidence in order to _save her life_ , endangering her people, giving her a child that she had repeated over and over again that she didn’t want just to stop him to hating himself for not being able to give it to her.

She dropped to her knees in front of him and encircled his neck tightly, drawing him into her in a warm, desperate embrace. Maui resisted for a few moments until he realized that he was not being rejected and returned the embrace tightly, trembling in her arms.

"You can't go," Moana whispered against his ear, pulled away and framed his face with her hands, wiping his tears with her thumbs in a warm caress. "You're not going to walk away from me anymore."

She leaned over and kissed him. Maui kissed her back with need, unable to understand how or why she had been able to forgive him. He didn’t care, nothing else was important to him right now when he had Moana back in his arms.

"We’re going to have a baby," Moana said with a bright smile, Maui let out a half-lazy sob and brought his hands to her stomach where in the not too distant future their little one would be seen.

A movement around them brought them out of their little bubble of intimacy and saw the whole tribe looking at them impatiently. Several parents held their children, who were struggling to loosen up and throw themselves for their dear and dear friend, but none of them wanted to disturb the scene. After the smiles, they both rose to their feet and the children hurried to Maui with tears, snot and saliva and the rest of the village approached to congratulate them.

Maui accepted the children in his arms with a wince of pain but didn’t push them away, pulled them closer to him in a desperate embrace. He smiled and waved to his neighbors and brothers, remembered perfectly how they had all gathered around him to confront Te-Pō for him and he had no words to thank all of them what that meant to him.

For the first time in his life Maui felt at last part of a tribe, a family, and it is a feeling he would carry with him for all eternity.

Maui of Motunui, Moana of Motonui’s husband, shapeshifter, demigod of the wind and sea and hero of all, was at home.

 

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At last! There is only the epilogue left and I really hope you enjoyed reading this fic as much as I have in writing it. I hope that Te Fiti giving her that gift is credible and adds the story.
> 
> I know I haven’t replied to the comments for a long time. Sorry! (I'm moving…) I'll reply as soon as I can.
> 
> Fanarts:  
> [“She will come at dusk”](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/post/164156938151/she-will-come-at-dusk-and-im-going-to-wait-for) by [MagicFishHook](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/)  
> [Fighting](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/post/164323795366/fighting-fanart-for-the-fic-fire-and-dust) by [MagicFishHook](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Explanation of contents.
> 
> -The phrase: "I'm afraid" "That means you're alive" is from the song Warrior Face, from the soundtrack of Moana.
> 
> -Pūkana: poke out the tongue, a common gesture of Pacífica warriors..
> 
> -Hine-nui-te-pō: is the goddess who kills Maui. Maui wanted to get immortality for humanity, but for that he had to get into the body of the goddess entering through her vagina and leaving out through the mouth to reverse the process of birth. For this, he shapeshifted into a worm but the goddess woke up and "ate him" because her vagina was full of teeth. Her appearance, according to some pages and references; She has the face of a barracuda, red eyes, hair as if it were algae and man's body. The size was supposed to be normal but I decided to make her giant. Everything supernatural in Moana is XXL size so I thought it was the right thing to do.
> 
> -The end of Maui: at first the story ended with the death of Maui but I decided it was going to be too tragic so I let him live, but of course, I want to respect as much as possible the fact that it is Te Po who kills him. Hence "the dark curse".


	15. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the epilogue! It is a short chapter but I think it closes the whole plot and was necessary to be able to put THE END.
> 
> I hope you like it!

It took a month for Maui to recover, but he didn’t fall back into that awful unconsciousness that had kept Moana awake during the night. She spent a lot of time in bed with him where they talked about what had happened in order to start a second cycle in their life with the ideas and intentions, both clear and at peace between them. He apologized more than once for having acted behind her back, moved by his desperation, but Moana knew that it would have been too hypocritical of her to blame him when she herself had been in that situation. If she had known of any creature, god, demon, or being that could have returned Maui to life, she would have done the same for him.

As soon as he regained his magic, he was able to show how grateful he was to his people. Crops and fishing had never been more productive. They barely had to save for the winter because of the amount of food they had. The sun seemed to light Motunui with brighter and brighter colors. It seemed that the whole island had come to life.

However, what really showed that Maui had returned to normal was an amazing magic trick he performed on the night before her twenty-fourth birthday. At dawn he reappeared on the beach with his breath agitated by the effort and behind him, a few miles in the sea, was a lush island that Moana instantly recognized as their little paradise. He had dragged it through the night to a distance where they could both visit it regularly, and although Maui used to bring the magical fruit every few days, the island had become a sacred place, _the island of Maui_. Only the chief of the island, the demigod's wife, could reach it by canoe or climb onto the huge hawk and fly over to it. Moana had no words to say how much she loved being able to spend several hours a day on that little island she soon called home.

He treated her like a real queen and fulfilled all her desires as eccentric as they were -like the type of fruit and food, the flowers she wanted in the cave, and the kind of lavalava color he had to wear- anything to satisfy her little cravings.

Even when she forced him to take her to Lalotai, despite the dangers, just to see Tamatoa and Grandma and be able to tell them about her pregnancy.

Tamatoa had been petrified for a moment until they told the whole story, even Maui showed the scars of the goddess's attack, and then his reticence completely changed to an altered and excited mood in which he couldn’t stop giving them absurd names for the future baby.

Seriously, who would call his son _Fish Food_?

Grandmother Hina, on the other hand, almost died a second time of a heart attack and Maui had to comfort her with an annoying grimace when she didn’t stop drooling on his curls and squeezing him between her arms.

But to see that smile and that glitter in his wife's eyes, Maui knew he would do it again without thinking.

There was something that worried Moana during months of her pregnancy and she was talking at length with Maui while he stroked her pronounced belly with oils, giving her the loving massage that had become a routine for them before going to sleep. Her concern had been childbirth, she had attended a few with her mother and had seen firsthand how much the mother suffered. Even Arona had lost too much blood during the birth of her little one and had been recovering long after fighting between life and death. Maui hadn’t been able to be of much help since he had only seen a couple and it was millennia ago, he only promised to be there for her and to have a fair amount of ointment for her pain. All conversation stopped when Maui stopped talking suddenly and looked down with surprise to her stomach. He moved his hand gently away and there it was; The small protrusion of one foot pushing the skin of the belly. At Moana's surprised stare, he groaned and bent to kiss the exact spot where their baby had made its first appearance. Now, whenever Moana felt a kick, he was there to embrace her waist, attentive to any other movement.

When the day came, Maui was about to have an anxiety attack and refused to leave the hut or depart from Moana's side at any time, even though she was about to break his hand with her grip. Something he would never admit.

After hours of shouting, threats, death oaths and tears, Maui heard the most beautiful sound he had ever heard in his life: The cry of his baby.

"It's a girl," Sina said with tears in her eyes as she took the small child in her arms. The tiny creature kicked in the air, still crying, and Sina couldn’t help but gasp at how much the baby looked like her parents.

"I'm going to finish up here," the midwife said at her side. Sina wiped the baby's face with a rag and placed it on Moana’s stomach while she was still lying on the bed.

"You did very well, Moana, she's a beautiful child."

Moana grabbed the little girl in her arms trying to catch her breath and hugged her against her chest, kissing the little curl of dark hair on her bald head. Her girl, they had a daughter.

She heard a sob at her side and looked up to see Maui sitting next to them looking at them as if they were the work of a miracle from the gods.

"Hey," she said in a hoarse whisper from the overuse of her throat for hours, "do you want to hold her?"

Maui nodded and carefully held her in his arms, giving Moana a tender smile. At that moment she didn’t know who was crying anymore, whether the baby, mini Maui on his chest or Maui himself.

"Thank you, Moana," he sobbed.

She lifted a hand and caressed his knee in response. The fatigue soon arrived and she finally surrendered to a calm dream knowing that when waking up, a new life would begin.

 

* * *

 

Maui woke up with a groan of pain from a strain on his neck. Sleeping sitting against the wall of the hut was not the best ideas he had, but after hours with his wife during childbirth had left them both exhausted and, so as to not bother her, he had let her sleep in the bed while he was guarding of his two treasures. The guard hadn’t lasted long because once the baby fell asleep in the nest of blankets next to Moana, he had fallen asleep later in his attempt to make no noise and wake them up.

He raised a hand to caress the painful knot in his neck and realized that someone had covered him with a blanket. He frowned and looked at the bed where was Mo- _empty_. The bed was empty and the baby blanket nest too.

Terror choked him and he jumped to his feet, grabbing his hook on the way out of the tent, how could he have been so stupid?

On leaving the hut, the morning light blinded him for a moment, but fear kept him from standing still. He looked around nervously, his heart hammering in his chest. He had to go to the beach, he knew Moana would be there. He almost choked on the thought. No, no, no!

He ran desperately through the village.

 _'Don’t be too late, don’t be too late, don’t be too late!'_ He repeated over and over again. At the end of the village he looked down on the beach and there she was sitting on the shore with her back to him. He was going to scream and run away when he suddenly stopped.

_No._

He was being stupid. He closed his eyes and took a breath. The air of Motunui was clean and clear, the wind shook his hair and his muscles calmed. He opened the eyes and looked around again. The village began to wake up, the youths started with their tasks, the children went out to play with the kites and the elders walked in groups with their typical laughter and the happiness as always. This was Motunui, the Motunui he knew, his people... and there on the beach was Moana of Motunui, his chosen one, the head of his tribe, his best friend, his wife, the mother of his daughter.

“Good morning, Maui. Congratulations, I heard the fantastic news,“ said a voice passing by his side. Maui smiled at him and inclined his head in thanks.

“Thank you, Alepati.“

Alepati, the master tattoo artist on the island. Maui hadn’t seen him in the fight against the goddess months before, but he had recognized the art of the old man in the paintings on the faces of the citizens who protected him. He recognized love and affection at every curve and motif in the designs. A sign that, although absent, he was there also struggling.

He drew in a breath and with a loud sigh made a decision.

With a sudden movement he stuck his hook into the ground, he wasn’t going to need it, and he set out on the quiet path to the beach, being greeted by many other voices, voices with faces and names he knew and loved. Children ran in front of him playing and had to catch Ulani before he fell to the ground face down. With an apologetic smile and a funny shout the boy continued to run after his friends. Kaiwi came right behind them and hugged his leg affectionately. He stroked her little dark head, she laughed and ran to play.

Yes, no more empty faces on unnamed islands, no more tattoos with no faces. He was at home.

As he approached Moana he noticed a translucent figure at her side but, after a blink, it was gone. 

She was sitting cross-legged on the sand, the ocean water playing lovingly with her legs and the wind moved her hair revealing the huge tattooed hawk on her back.

Silently he sat behind her and kissed her neck, embracing her waist, careful not to disturb the nursing baby.

"Good morning," he said.

"Good morning," she replied with a smile. "I'm sorry I left you alone, she was starting to cry from hunger and I didn’t want to wake you, I know you were tired."

"It’s alright, Mo, thank you." He kissed her neck again and rested his head on her shoulder to watch his baby. A movement in the ocean caught his attention and he saw a manta ray disappear. He closed his eyes with a silent prayer of gratitude to her and looked at the baby.

"How is my princess doing?"

"I thought I was your princess."

"You are my queen now."

"You're hopeless," she laughed.

He contemplated her with a silly smile on his face and brought a hand to caress the little girl's chest. Immediately the baby caught his finger with her fist in a strong grip that made him let out a sigh of joy.

"She is beautiful."

"She is."

Moana leaned against his chest and Maui caught them in his arms and closed his eyes. This was all he needed in this life, he wanted nothing more. He smiled as the ocean tickled his feet and soon felt utterly stupid for his doubts. He caressed her stomach with his thumbs and enjoyed the closeness of his family.

Moana sighed contentedly at the warm body behind her although she knew that this calm would not last. She opened her eyes and looked out at the vast ocean in front of them. Soon they would embark on another adventure. They had talked about it for many months. It had been difficult for Maui to open up about the dark curse the goddess had thrown upon him but, after much arguing and trying, he had finally come to terms with her. He was frightened, he was terrified and he didn’t want to think about it but Moana had grabbed his cheeks to force him to look at her and promised that she would solve it, that she would fight with all her might to keep that future from being fulfilled.

Then she had decided; They would return to the sea, cross the ocean and find Te-Pō.

No matter what happened, in life or death they would be together, open their wings and fly through the skies in unison for all eternity, she would take care of it personally. Maui had begged her to ignore it, to let her life run no matter what, but she wasn’t going to let it be.

She was Moana of Motunui and she was going to save the demigod Maui from his dark future.

But that story would be for another time.

****

**“I still remember the days I prayed for the things I have now"  - Uknown.**

 

**THE END!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks for sharing this experience with me. I have loved each and every one of your comments.
> 
> I hope you liked it.
> 
>  
> 
> **Fanarts:**  
> [“Moana and grandma Tala.”](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/post/164359145916/there-is-nowhere-you-could-go-that-i-wont-be) by [MagicFishHook](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/)  
> [“I still remember the days I prayed for the things I have now" ](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/post/164476682306/i-still-remember-the-days-i-prayed-for-the-things) by [MagicFishHook](https://magicfishhook.tumblr.com/)
> 
>  **Notes:**  
>  I didn’t want to give a name to the little girl, mainly because I don’t know what name to give her. I have thought of many but none that I love.  
> The story has an "open end" and no, I don’t plan on continuing it. To begin with, because I think the story wouldn’t be about Maui and Moana, but about the little girl escaping from Motunui to save her father and the two parents going after her to rescue her.  
> And surely one of them would die in that story, and that’s it's something I'm not ready to write.
> 
> In many of the comments you have told me about your fics and you have recommended some. Now that this is over I'm going to have a lot more free time (although I'm still moving) so, please, everyone who wants me to read your fics or want to recommend some for me, leave me a note in the comments.  
> I will read and comment!
> 
> I have read a (critical) review for this fic for nothing more and nothing less than the fact that Maui has had relations with other men in the past . In ancient Polynesia that was normal and I wanted to reflect the old society in order to help the realism of history. Now, in the XXI century we should have left behind the Holy Inquisition and realize that homosexuality is natural and something that should neither be hidden nor the object of persecution, but it seems that many people still live in the XVI century. This fic has many things, some you will like and others you won’t, but not everything has to be perfect, I wanted to make it realistic with problems and situations that, despite being from a fantasy universe, could happen. You can criticize my writing, my absurd ideas and my lack of polish, but if you're bothered by homosexuality, the problem is YOURS, not mine.  
> Hakuna Matata!


End file.
